I've seen a few of these trees in Los Angeles. Any help identifying them? Here are a few pictures. I picked a few fruit 2 months ago, and they were red (the pea part looked the same). The flesh is rubbery, like a gummy bear. These dark blue/purpleish ones are from a different tree, though I believe it's the same species. Though I could be wrong about that.
Thanks, Daniel. I considered that. But it's very different from a cashew. Smaller, I cut open the "pea" and it looks nothing like a cashew. The tree and foliage is also very different. The red and blue's trees are exactly the same. In fact, I believe it's the same fruit just different time of year.
The tree and the fruit look a lot like olive, Olea europaea, but I have never seen them come prestuffed on the tree.
The fleshy part tastes sweet. Yes, we were brave/foolish enough to try them. So no, not an olive. ;) Thanks, Daniel.
An image search for Podocarpus brings up images very similar to that fruit. A few species to work through though. Podocarpus also a much better match for the leaves.
Wow, well done, David! That looks like the one to me! Thank you ! Here are a few links about the one you listed. Sounds exactly like what I was talking about. http://www.plantcare.com/encyclopedia/buddhist-pine-2293.aspx http://www.conifers.org/po/Podocarpus.php http://www.floridata.com/ref/p/podo_m.cfm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podocarpus_macrophyllus http://www.ask.com/wiki/Podocarpus_macrophyllus There seems to be differing opinions online about whether the fleshy part (seed aside) is edible. Some say it's edible, some say it's toxic. Hm. Well at least I didn't die from trying, haha! Best, Bill
Yep, certainly a Podocarpus species. The fleshy part of the 'cone' is edible, but don't eat the seed at the apex.
