Category Archives: Fruits

A weedy tree that produces delicious fruit!

Posted on November 30, 2009 | 1 Comment

A colleague of mine introduced me to this interesting fruit tree. In this part of the world, it can be seen growing just about anywhere ranging from wastelands to the neglected sides of roads and expressways. Known via a range of common names such as Jamaican cherry, Panama berry, Singapore cherry and the strawberry tree, this tree is botanically known as Muntingia calabura and is a member of the Muntingiaceae family.

Native to Central and South America, Muntingia calabura is a pioneer species, often colonizing disturbed sites in tropical lowlands. As a pioneer plant, it could help condition the soil and make it habitable to other plants. However, it might also be considered as an invasive species since it might out-compete indigenous plants.

It grows as a small, evergreen tree in the tropics that can attain a height of about 12 meters. It has a dense, characteristic tiered canopy with slightly drooping branches which cast much shade below. It grows and flowers continuously on fan-like branches where the mainline branches becoming erect after leaf fall and so in turn contributing to the formation of the trunk. This tree has furry, serrated leaves that have a sharp tip each.

The flowers of  Muntingia calabura are each borne singly and develop along a growing shoot. Flowers  are engineered to open sequentially along the elongating branch. Flowers that are about to open and those that have been pollinated are positioned differently – flowers to be pollinated are positioned above the subtending leaf so that it is rendered more conspicuous to pollinators and segregated from the concealed fruit which hangs below. This is also probably to ensure that seed dispersers going after the fruits will less likely damage the flowers.

Flowers open just before dawn and last for only a day and bees are the main pollinators although the flowers are also self-compatible. After pollination, small round fruits that resemble cherries are produced. They start out green in colour and turns into a dull red fruit when ripe. The fruits are edible and very tasty – each berry is sweet, juicy and very addictive but contains numerous tiny, yellow seeds. Humans compete with birds and bats (if they occur) for these fruits and due to this, it can be a really difficult task trying to find a ripe fruit in a tree at any one time.

Each fruit takes about 6 to 8 weeks from anthesis to develop fully and seeds are dispersed by both bats and birds. Fresh seed germination is enhanced by passage through the digestive tract of bats. The seed is well-represented in the seed banks of forest soils and requires the high temperature and light conditions of large gaps in the forest for germination; the seedlings do not tolerate shade.

Besides yielding edible fruit, flowers of this tree are used to prepare an infusion against headaches and colds in the Philippines. The pliable bark can be used as rough cordage while the soft wood is harvested and used as firewood. Due to its spreading canopy, this tree provides much shade but it may not be wise to sit beneath it, keeping in mind that there will be birds perching above, foraging for ripe berries to eat. You can expect what will rain down on you if you are sitting below!

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Fruits, Trees

Tagged

The Obscure Akee Tree

Posted on November 16, 2009 | 6 Comments

Blighia sapida is an obscure fruit tree to most Singaporeans. It is commonly known as the Ackee, Akee, akee apple or Achee. Native to to tropical West Africa, it is a member of the Sapindaceae family, in which common fruits such as the rambutan, lychee and the longan also belong.

Unlike the dessert fruits we normally eat, the fruit which are produced in clusters by this tree cannot be eaten in the same way. Each fruit is shaped like a bell and starts out green in colour and turns red when ripe. The ripe fruits are used and only when they have split open into three segments, revealing three white to yellow aril covered seeds. The seeds are black and shiny when the aril around them are removed.

Note that only the aril from the ripe fruits have food uses and are used in a variety of meat dishes. Some preparation work must be done before it can be consumed. Levels of a toxic alkaloid, hypoglycin A, found in the akee aril peak at maturity but rapidly diminishes to non-detectable levels in an opened fruit making it safe for consumption.

Hypoglycin A limits the body’s ability to release of glucose that is stored in the liver and consumption of unripe or unproperly prepared akee aril gives rise to the Jamaican vomiting sickness and even death. Akee fruit arils must be first cleaned, washed and then boiled in water for at least 20 min. The water is then discarded. The boiling process helps to rid the arils of toxic alkaloids.

Akee has high nutritional value and the oil in the arils contains many important nutrients, especially fatty acids. Linoleic, palmitic and stearic acids are the primary fatty acids found in the fruit. Ackee oil makes an important contribution to the diet of many Jamaicans. The dried seeds, fruit bark and leaves are used medicinally.

The genus name of this plant was named after William Bligh of the HMS Bounty, who carried many plants to different parts of the world, this tree is grown and appreciated in Jamaica and the West Indies. He apparently took the fruit from Jamaica to England in 1793. The fruit was imported to Jamaica from West Africa before 1778. Since then it has become a major feature of various Caribbean cuisines, and is also cultivated in tropical and subtropical areas elsewhere around the world. It is the national fruit of Jamaica.

Blighia sapida is an evergreen tree that grows about 10 m tall, with a short trunk and a dense crown. The leaves are pinnate and leathery. The tree produces clusters of white, fragrant flowers and can be propagated by seed or stem-cuttings. Like many other fruit trees, the akee tree prefers to grow in a well-drained and sunny location.

→ 6 Comments

Posted in Fruits

Tagged , , , ,

The Pretty Barbados Cherry Tree

Posted on July 13, 2009 | 2 Comments

The Barbados cherry tree in HortPark’s Kampong Daze had recently put forth a massive flush of flowers that was followed by the production of numerous fruits. The Barbados cherry is also referred to by the names, acerola and West Indian cherry. It is a native of Southern USA and Central America.

In a work by Julia F. Morton that was entitled ‘Fruits of warm climates’, it was stated that this fruit tree’s correct botanical name should be Malpighia punicifolia and not Malpighia glabra. Morton stated that latter botanical name refers to a wild relative of the Barbados cherry that bears smaller and pointed leaves, and produces smaller flowers and fruits. However, in Plant Resources of Southeast Asia (PROSEA), both names are synonymous and used to refer to the same plant.

The Barbados cherry tree is an attractive tree to grow. It adopts a bushy growth habit and can be pruned and trained to a desired shape and size – good as a hedge plant. Because of this, this tree is highly suitable for growing in home gardens. It left to grow, it can grow up to a height and spread of about 6 m. Another reason to grow it is because the tree produces highly ornamental fruits.

The leaves of the Barbados cherry tree are evergreen and elliptical in shape. When young, they come with irritating hairs which are lost when they are mature. Its flowers are small but attractive. They are produced in bunches and pink in colour with five pink, spoon-shaped, fringed petals.

Its fruits are very attractive to look at. They look almost like cherries which are borne singly or in 2′s or 3′s in the leaf axils. Like many fruits, they are green when young which take on a bright red colour when they are ripe. Before you pick and pop one into your mouth, be warned that the fruit, even when fully ripe, is rather sour to taste. I particularly did not enjoy the fruit. Inside each fruit, you can find three small, rounded and stony seeds. Each seed has 2 large and 1 small fluted wings.

Although not exactly palatable to people who likes fruits sweet, the fruit of the Barbados cherry is a rich source of vitamin C and local people who live in the region where the Barbados cherry can be naturally found growing eat its fruits when they had colds. The fruits are also consumed for the treatment of liver problems, diarrhoea, dysentery and coughs.

The Barbados cherry was grown on a commercial scale in the 1950s as a rich natural source of vitamin C but its popularity plunged when the same vitamin could be made synthetically via a cheaper process. Now the Barbados cherry is now only important in Puerto Rico where canned juice and frozen fruit are exported to the United States, where they are used to enrich fruit preserves and are marketed as baby foods.

This tree has also been introduced into other parts of the tropics and subtropics. In South-East Asia it is only sporadically grown. Besides its edible fruits and ornamental value as a garden plant, the Barbados cherry tree has other uses – its bark has been used for tanning and its wood, which is hard and heavy, can be used for small utensils.

Like many other fruit trees, the Barbados cherry does best when grown under direct sunshine. Apartment gardeners can grow a small plant in a pot that is situated in a sunny balcony, windowsill or corridor that receives direct sunshine for at least 4 hours daily. Note that this tree does not tolerate waterlogged soil. It prefers to be planted in be rich, acidic, deep and well drained soil and established plants can tolerate long periods of drought.

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Fruits

Tagged , , ,

Fruit Tree Growing in Highrise Singapore

Posted on June 29, 2009 | 1 Comment

An interesting article written on the growing of fruit trees in highrise flats in Singapore was published on the Sunday Times just over the weekend. The article shared two success stories of Singaporeans who have succeeded in growing fruit trees in the highrise environment.

In Singapore, many highrise dwellers encounter the lack of sufficient sunshine that is required for growing these plants. Either they do not get the right intensity or they receive less than 4 hours or less of direct sunshine. To grow these edible plants properly, one has to locate them in a place at home where they can be exposed to a minimum of 6 hours of direct sunshine daily. Plants not receiving enough direct sunshine will exhibit slow growth, etiolation (elongation of shoots) and lack of flowers and fruits. 

The first success story mentioned in the article focussed around Mr Lawrence Tan, who managed to grow and fruit grapes and Japanese muskmelons in tropical Singapore. Grapes have been reported before to be able to fruit here, but most of the time, the fruits are sparse and sour to taste. Muskmelons can also be grown easily without problems locally too.

The second person that was interviewed was Mr Ng Cheow Kheng, who is both my good friend, colleague and the Assistant Director of Streetscape Projects in National Parks Board (NParks). I have written a blog entry on this open patio before (viewable via this link). The two fruit trees that can be found Mr Ng’s growing area include the chiku tree and dwarf banana plant.

To be able to grow fruit trees in highrise apartments, one has to choose grafted varieties so that they can fruit while they still remain small and manageable. It is almost grow trees from seeds and expect them to fruit inside a pot. For these, they often need to attain their full height before fruit production commences. For banana plants, choose to grow dwarf varieties. By the way, bananas are totally herbaceous and are technically not classified as trees!

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Fruits, Gardening People in Singapore, Interesting News

Getting to know Garcinia xanthochymus

Posted on June 25, 2009 | 2 Comments

Garcinia xanthochymus is a close relative of the tree that bears the common edible mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana) which has been crowned the ‘Queen’ of tropical fruits. Also known as Garcinia tinctoria, Garcinia xanthochymus is commonly referred via an assortment of names such as the eggtree, gamboge tree, sour mangosteen, Himalayan garcinia and false mangosteen. It belongs to the Clusiaceae family (Guttiferae).

Garcinia xanthochymus originated probably from India and Burma. It occurs in the wild, growing in the hills of South India and can also be found widely distributed in the hill forests of the Eastern Himalayas and hence the common name ‘Himalayan garcinia ‘. In Singapore, this species of Garcinia appears to be rather rare and the place where I first encountered the plant was in HortPark.

The Garcinia species is rather bushy and adopts a rather attractive, pyramidal growth habit that can be likened to a Christmas tree. Its large leaves are linear in shape, dark green, thick and leathery in texture and they hand down from the stiff branches that extend outwards in all directions from the main trunk. It is a slow-growing tree like many other Garcinia species and can attain a height of 10 m.

Like other species in the same genus, male and female flowers usually occur on separate plants. Garcinia xanthochymus  is observed to produce both male flowers and bisexual (hermaphrodite) flowers in clusters. The latter can be distinguished by their longer longer axils. The bisexual flowers apparently self-pollinate so that fruits can form.

Unlike what one of its common name ‘eggtree’ suggests, the fruit of Garcinia xanthochymus  is not egg-shaped. The fruit has a curved pointed end which makes it look like an inverted tear-drop. Like the common mangosteen, one can find persistent sepals and staminal bundles even on a mature, ripe fruit of Garcinia xanthochymus.

Fruits produced by Garcinia xanthochymus are green when young and they turn bright yellow when ripe. They look extremely tempting and are often reported to have a juicy pulp with a pleasant acid flavour and can be eaten out of hand. I beg to differ on this as I find the pulp extremely sour and not pleasant at all! It is no wonder that the fruits can be used as a tamarind substitute in cooking. Another species, Garcinia atroviridis, bears fruits that are used in the same way. Inside each fruit, there are two brown, oval-shaped seeds.

The fruits of  Garcinia xanthochymus are also made into preserves and jams and used for making vinegar. They can also be dried so that they can be stored for a longer time and used later. A sherbet made from the dried fruits is given in bilious condition. An inferior yellow coloured gamboge that has uses as a dyestuff is obtained tapping its stems or extraction from the fruit rind. 

Garcinia xanthochymus is relatively easy to grow. Like many other Garcinia species, young individuals should be given shade when young. Plants should be given ample amounts of water during the hot and dry season. When established, this tree grows very vigorously and can adapt to a variety of soil types. It usually starts to produce fruits about 5 years after seed-sowing.

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Fruits

Tagged ,

So Pretty but so SOUR!

Posted on May 20, 2009 | Leave a comment

Flacourtia inermis is a fruit tree that is commonly known as lobi-lobi and tomi-tomi in Indonesia, rukam masam and lovi-lovi in Malaysia. The plant is a fruit tree that can grow up to a height of 15 m. Some internet sources indicated that it is native to Malaysia but according to the Plant Resources of Southeast Asia (PROSEA), this tree is said to be only known in a cultivated or semi-cultivated state, widespread from India through Malesia to New Britain.

Several individuals of Flacourtia inermis can be seen being planted in the grounds of HortPark (the Gardening Hub of Singapore located off Alexandra Road). It is an ornamental tree that can be planted in a park or garden. The tree’s mature leaves ovate-oblong to ovate-elliptic in shape and are glossy on the upperside. The young flushes of leaves with toothed margins are particularly attractive as they are bright orange in colour. This colour fades off to become a green colour as they mature. Some varieties have been distinguished, based on differences in leaves.

Flacourtia inermis produces very attractive bunches of fruits that measure up to 2.5 cm in diameter and appear as globose, deep red berries when they are ripe. Like many other fruits, they are green when they first appear. Tempting as they were, the ripe red fruits, however, in my opinion, are not exactly palatable as I find them very acid and astringent to taste. They are said to be excellent for making tarts, jams, syrup and preserves.

Like many other fruit trees, Flacourtia inermis can be propagation by using seeds. When there is a tree available, one can propagate it via air layering or budding. It prefers to be grown in a location where it can receive full, direct sunshine and in soil that is well-draining, fertile and moisture retentive. Mulch around the base of the tree using organic compost or manure to promote growth. Flacourtia inermis is not tolerant of waterlogged conditions though. The tree does not produce fruits all year round. In Java where the climate is relatively similar to Singapore, the tree flowers in January and February and fruits ripen after 4—5 months.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Flowering plants, Fruits, Trees, Tropical ornamentals

Tagged

Musa ‘Praying Hands’ @ HortPark

Posted on May 8, 2009 | 1 Comment

Musa ‘Praying Hands’ is a unique banana cultivar that produces rather unique looking fruits. Unlike ordinary bananas, fruits produced by this cultivar are fused to one another! Two adjacent hands of fruits are also stuck to each other making them look like two hands put together in prayer! When ripe, the fruits can be separated and consumed like a regular banana. They are reported to contain a hint of vanilla!

When it is not in fruit, Musa ‘Praying Hands’ looks like any other regular banana plant. It makes a nice plant to grow in a tropical themed garden as it can grow up to a stately height of about 2 to 3 m tall. Its broad, green leaves growing from the thick and sturdy green pseudostem are relatively wind-resistant and one does need not worry about the appearance of unsightly, thinly shredded leaves that can be found on susceptible banana plants grown in windy areas.

A triploid banana cultivar with an ABB genome (A for Musa acuminata and B for Musa balbisiana), the botanical name of this highly desirable cultivar should be reflected as Musa x paradisiaca ‘Praying Hands’. Depending on the locality, this particular cultivar can be known via a variety of names such as  ‘Uht Kapakap’ in Pohnpei (an island in Micronesia) or ‘Inabaniko’and ‘Ripping’ in the Philippines. It may also be called ‘Benedetta’ in some rare instances.

The Musa ’Praying Hands’ in HortPark’s Floral Fancy has started to produce fruit and do pay a visit to take a closer look at the bunch of fruits produced by this out-of-this-world banana cultivar!

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Fruits, Tropical ornamentals

Tagged

A flushing Cowa Mangosteen Tree

Posted on April 16, 2009 | Leave a comment

A Garcinia cowa tree, draped in a vivid red colour is currently screaming for attention at HortPark . This flaming beauty is one of the trees that are planted in the HortPark’s Garden Patch and can be located near the display plot adopted by Crystalene Products (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

Related to the common mangosteen (G. mangostana) and assam gelugor (G. atroviridis), G. cowa is commonly known as the cowa mangosteen and can be found growing wild in evergreen and semi-evergreen forests, streams and valleys in the area that extends from eastern to north-eastern India to Indo-China. It is also cultivated within and outside this geographical area.

Garcinia cowa can grow up to a height of about 12 m tall. The tree has numerous pendulous branches,with shiny leaves that are broadly lanceolate in shape. Young leaves that emerge are bright red in colour, which make the tree look highly attractive whenever new growth is produced. This characteristic is not unique to this species and can be seen in a handful of other Garcinia species.

Interestingly, this evergreen tree is dioecious, which means that separate sexes occur on separate trees. The ribbed fruits produced by female trees are about the size of a small orange which turn dull red when ripe. They are edible but not exactly palatable due to the sour taste of the pulp that is orange in colour. In Vietnam, the fruits are a source of natural citric acid that is used to flavour sour fish and crab soup. Besides the fruits, its young shoots and leaves are also edible and are featured as a food additive in many local Thai dishes.

Besides food and ornamental uses, the cowa mangosteen tree is sometimes used as a rootstock for grafting the common mangosteen tree.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Fruits, Trees

Tagged ,

Home Concepts Magazine (Apr 09)

Posted on April 10, 2009 | Leave a comment

This month, I contributed an article entitled “Garden of Refreshment” for the Garden Treats column of the Home Concepts Singapore magazine. In it, I introduced four plants that are used to make healthy drinks which include passion fruit (Passiflora edulis), medicinal aloe (Aloe vera), dragonfruit (Hylocereus spp.) and roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa). 

All the abovementioned plants can be grown in Singapore, that is, if you have an outdoor garden. The passion fruit vinerequires a trellis to climb on, although some apartment gardeners with a bit more space have reported to be able to grow the vine in a large pot and seeing the plant fruit for them. The dragon fruit plant is a large sprawling cactus which needs to have a strong support to grow on. It requires full sun to grow well and hence it is kind of out of the growing list of a typical apartment dweller.

For apartment gardeners, try growing the medicinal aloe and roselle, which are two plants with a more manageable size. These two can be grown inside a large container but both plants require at least 6 hours of direct sunshine to grow well. Get a baby plant from a neighbour who grows the medicinal aloe to get started. The roselle can only be grown from seeds and scout around your nearby community garden to see if you see anyone growing this shrub.

To make refreshing drinks from these plants, try the following. Passionfruit juice can be made by blending passion fruit pulp using a blender at low speed. The same can also be done to dragon fruits. Do remember to filter the seeds away! 

For the medicinal aloe, you can cut the translucent gel found inside the leaves into small cubes and then boil them in water. Add sugar to taste. My mother puts in rock sugar to boil with the gel bits. The gel bits make an interesting chewy addition to the decoction.

Roselle drink is made from boiling the calyces from the fruits formed by the plant. Dried version of the calyces are available for sale from the local Chinese medicine hall. Do note that the drink needs to be sweetened using sugar as it can be quite sour to taste. Once sugar is added, the drink tastes somewhat like Ribena which is popular with young children.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Contributed Articles, Fruits, Herbs

Tagged

Interesting Papaya Tree

Posted on December 23, 2008 | 4 Comments

Just early last week, I received yet another email that reported an interesting plant discovery by Mr Keneric Ng from the National Parks Board (NParks).  This time, he spotted an unusual form of papaya tree (Carica papaya) that was found growing in a wasteland in the vicinity of Farrer Road.

Keneric’s new find - an unlikely beauty growing in a wasteland.

All the papaya trees I have come across have green petioles. What was so different about this papaya tree that Keneric had documented was that it has purple petioles. This is the first time that I have been told that such a papaya existed! This feature somehow made this papaya tree look a little more ornamental that its all-green counterparts. In fact, I have always thought that well-grown papaya trees with their umbrella-shaped crowns  that feature large palmate leaves do make stately statements for a tropical garden.

Purple coloured petioles appear to not be restricted to papayas only. It can also be seen in cassavas, except that in this case, the petiole may be coloured red instead of purple.

With this morphological feature in mind, I recall that it is not unique to just papayas. The common cassava that we eat in desserts and a source of tapioca flour also has cultivars that have either all-green petioles or those that has red/purple coloured petioles.

A female flower of the papaya which usually occurs singly or in a small bunch consisting of a few flowers.

From the look of the flower this purple-petioled papaya plant had produced, it could either be a  female plant or a hermaphadite and hence, it has the ability to produce fruit. I wonder whether will the fruits of this plant be purple or green when young and would they turn orange when ripe?

Take a look at the two pictures of similar-looking papaya plants below (accessible via the URLs) which I managed to find via the Google search engine that were put on the New York Botanical Gardens’ Ethnobotany and Floristics of Belize Photo Gallery:

Male plant with flowers in sprays – http://www.nybg.org/bsci/belize/Carica_papaya_1.jpg

Female plant with green fruits – http://www.nybg.org/bsci/belize/Carica_papaya_2.jpg

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Fruits, Trees, Tropical ornamentals

Tagged ,