Shrubs or trees, erect, 2-10 m. Stems to 20 cm diam., very spiny; areoles to 12 mm diam. on basal portion of stem. Leaves elliptic-oblong, 6-30 × 3-9 cm, 0.5 mm thick. Spines all alike, 1-6 per areole, straight, acicular, 1-6.5 cm. Flowers 10-50 in dense cymose-paniculate aggregations, not fragrant, 1.5-3.2 × 3-7 cm; tepals epigynous; scales and areoles in distal ¹/2 of receptacles; lateral pedicels 1-3 cm; terminal flower without pedicel; perianth pink. Fruits reddish green to yellowish green, pyriform or tur-binate, often nearly as broad as long, 50-100 × 30-70 mm, often proliferating. Seeds obovoid-ellipsoid, 5-7 × (3.6-)4.5-5(-5.4) mm, glossy. 2n = 22.

Flowering not reported for Florida [year-round]. Lowland forests; 0-50 m; introduced; Fla.; South America (Brazil).

Pereskia grandifolia var. grandifolia is widespread in cultivation as an ornamental, often escaping. B. E. Leuenberger (1986) showed the species only as cultivated in Florida; however, it is reported from Highlands and Hillsborough counties, where it may now be established. At Hillsborough County, sizeable clumps were reported growing in a pasture (R. P. Wunderlin, pers. comm.).