Sapindaceae, Blighia sapida, Akee, Seso Vegetal

Akee is native to and widely cultivated on the East coast of Africa. The English brought it from there to their colonies in the Caribbean where it is now well integrated. It is the national fruit of Jamaica.

The tree ranges in height from 10 - 25 meters. The canopy is open and broad. The fruit is a capsule in the form of a pear. When the fruit is ripe it splits open, exposing three shiny black seeds encased in a creamy white colored flesh, which is the part consumed. The fleshy arial has been described as looking similar to a small brain.

Akee is a curious and potentially dangerous fruit. If the unripe fruit is opened and the aril is eaten it can be deadly, or sufficiently poisonous to induce a coma. When picked before it is fully ripe the fruit contains a chemical that limits the body’s ability to release the backup supply of glucose that is stored in the liver. That supply is essential because once the body uses up the sugar immediately available in the bloodstream, an event that usually occurs several hours after eating, it depends on this glucose to keep blood sugar levels normal until the next meal. Without it, blood sugar plunges dangerously. Enough people have died from eating unripened akee to make it illegal to bring the raw fruit into the U.S although that restriction doesn’t apply to canned and properly processed akee.

Symptoms of akee poisoning can include uncontrollable vomiting, dizziness, severe hypoglycaemia, convulsions, coma and even death.

However, if the fruit is left to ripen and open itself, the flesh poses no danger whatsoever. All other parts of the fruit should never be eaten.  I remember visiting the Lancetilla botanical gardens Tela, Honduras. In their flier they discuss Akee, giving reference to the wife of the founder to the garden who had the mishap of consuming unripe Akee and, as a result, falling into a coma and eventually dying.

Akee can be eaten fried or boiled, typically with fish or meat. The texture is similar to eggs. A curious fruit indeed.

Akee is considered highly nutritious due to its high content of fats.

The tree thrives in a hot, humid climate and does not support long, dry periods. It is best grown in deep, well drained, soils. Liming is beneficial.

Bombacaceae, Durio zibethinus, Durian

durian-leaf

durian-leaf-underside1

Passifloraceae, Jamaican lilikoi.

I'm growing this on my balcony in Casco Viejo. The flowers just opened up a few days ago, with an incredible scent. I'm hand pollinating them for better fruit set. I think this one has a lot of potential in balcony and rooftop trellis plantings. The fruit is orange and both looks and tastes like a cross between P. edulis and granadilla.

Euterpe oleraceae, Acai

Moraceae, Artocarpus lakoocha, Monkey jack, Lakoocha, Emerald Jack, Pachoo Phanas (Bangalore), Badahar (Guyana), Selengking (Borneo)

This is the ripe orange bumpy fruit. I was unable to identify it for a long time, just recently found it in a book called  Fruits and Cultivated Exotics that I found at Fairchild Botanical Garden. The taste and texture are very interesting. Taste is tangy and slightly citrus-like. The texture is like that of unripe jackfruit only finer fibers, as a visitor to the site pointed out (see comments), similar to kiwi. I germinated a bunch of seed about five months ago. The small trees are just now about to surpass me in height. Supposedly the tree yields an excellent hardwood, said to be superior to Teak, useful for toolhandles and construction both above and below water. The trees I saw were not cultivated as a hardwood.

This photo was taken a month after transplanting the germinated seedlings, they are growing quickly. I'll take some up-to-date photos to upload today.

Oxalidaceae, Averrhoa carambola, grafted Carambola (starfruit) flowers and young fruit

The Starfruit is from Malaysia and Indonesia, now common throughout tropical Asia and the neo-tropics. Most of the world’s commercial cultivation occurs in Brazil, the West Indies, and Malaysia.

The tree is small, usually no larger then 12 m high. We grow grafted varieties in Panama that begin to bear fruit when just a few feet tall. Grafted trees can be managed at four meters and, in favorable conditions, bear so much fruit the branches will break if they aren’t harvested.

The fruit, as the name would suggest, is shaped like a star. There are multiple varieties of Starfruit, both sweet and sour. Sweet varieties tend to be lighter in color and smaller, about five inches long and three inches wide. Sour varieties are larger and more orange in color.

Starfruit is especially rich in Vitamins A, B, C, phosphorus and calcium. The vitamin C content is comparable to that of an orange. Each fruit contains between 8 – 10 % sugar.

In addition to the fruit, both the flower and leaf are edible. I have two Taiwanese varieties. Very compact, heavily bearing trees. I'm trying them on balconies in large pots.

Myrciaria floribunda - Rumberry, Guavaberry

A close relative of Camu-camu. This is native to dry and moist coastal forests of tropical America. Bears a small, bright orange berry. The flesh is strongly fragrant. Makes an excellent jam or juice. At Christmas time in parts of the Lesser Antilles (W. Indies) a Guavaberry rum is made. This is a delicious, aromatic, rum-based liqueur that has apparently been brewed for centuries.

M. floribunda is a very slow growing species, rarely found cultivated in its region of origin, although wild trees are typically left in pastures that have been cleared of their vegetation.

I know of a single tree and have harvested fruit once. Bears heavily.

In my experience the small, hard seeds can take a while to germinate. After months of waiting for germination I kind of lost track of them. Eventually I got a few sprouts. A light scarification might prove beneficial in expediting the process. Next season i'll germinate a few dozen, as this is a very uncommon in interesting tree.

Euphorbiaceae, Plukenetia conophora, Sacha inchi

Moringaceae, Moringa oleifera, horshraddish tree, drumstick tree

Yielding protein, oil, and carbohydrates, and with a load of vitamins and minerals, Moringa is possibly the planet's most underdeveloped tree. A sort of food market on a stalk, it yields at least four different edibles: pods, leaves, seeds, roots. Beyond edibles, it provides products that make village life more self-sufficient in rural communities: lubricating oil, lamp oil, wood, paper, liquid fuel, skin treatments, the means to purify water, and more. The green pods, which look like giant green beans but taste something like asparagus, are notably nutritious. Foliage is an important food product as well. People in various countries around the world boil up the tiny leaflets and eat them like spinach. In general this supreme plant shows a capacity to help solve problems such as hunger, malnutrition, rural poverty, disease, deforestation, and visual blight. Although the experiences come almost exclusively from India, the genus Moringa is inherently African, so it has ancestral roots in sub-Saharan soils. Read more in this informative PDF

Moringaceae, Moringa oleifera

Syzygium samarangense - Java Apple

This is an air layered variety I got from Taiwanese agronomistsIn Panama