What is the name of this tree? The fruit is somewhat usual. It reminds me of a small kiwi fruit with a smaller, rounder portion on top and a stem that is attached at a slight angle.
Davidia involucrata, common names dove tree or handkerchief tree. If you don't know the white bracts, google it - they're very showy in the spring and people get excited to see them. I found only one site that says only "no" after the "edible" label; no other mention regarding that or if the fruits are actually poisonous. Someone posted the question here several years ago but no-one replied.
Thanks. Apparently this tree is not known for its fruit, judging by the lack of discussion on the net. After a quick search I came across one person wanting to buy a tree for its tasty fruit and one person claiming the fruit is not fit for consumption because of its horrible taste. Take your pick. This tree has been featured in Botany Photo of the Day twice: Davidia involucrata 'Sonoma' - Botany Photo of the Day Davidia involucrata - Botany Photo of the Day
Thanks for those links. The second one was only last year, said the family was Nyssaceae. The Vancouver Trees app has it in Cornaceae, mentions that older literature put it in Nyssaceae or even in its own family.
Coming at this from my perspective, I found a number of anecdotal references to the fruit being edible, but not from sources I'd want to see. Plants For A Future has over 7000 listing of edible, medicinal, or useful plants, international in scope and they do not have this one. Kew Gardens says nothing more than the key use is ornamental, which is pretty much as I'd expect. ECHO doesn't have it in their collection which is all about research and propagation of plants that are edible, medicinal, or useful. But they want to promote viable and highly productive plants for the more extreme areas of the temperate to tropical latitudes. (They have apple trees that will fruit in Florida for instance.) Doesn't sound like Davidia involucrata is known for bountiful excesses of fruits. None of this means that the fruit is not edible. Commercial sites selling the tree or whip sometimes mention the edibility, one shows the interior of the fruit with ivory flesh that resembles immature pear, and a pit looking like a cross sectioned almond, although I've read it has several seeds. Another touts the fruit as being edible after a winter on the tree. It would be interesting to hear or read something definitive.
Junglekeeper, those tags don't seem to be for just this tree. In the tags list are conifers and various other terms related to some set of trees, maybe all the ones in the Landscape Architecture 316 class or in that blog. If you click the tag, it shows ten trees, and Davidia is not among them. You're doing a great job finding UBC sources of info.
I've seen them with lots of fruits. But it's clearly not known for uses for the fruits. In this article comparing Davidia fruits of the Paleocene age and current fruits, Leaves and Fruits of Davidia (Cornales) from the Paleocene of North America. the fruit is described as "Fruit with a leathery covering over a hard, longitudinally ribbed stone". (page 376) No mention is made of any attempt to eat it (understandable from that description), other than its current larger size and rougher texture corresponds to increasing sophistication of teeth in rodents. (page 381).
Daley's Fruit in Australia shows pics of the fruit in a forum message r/t edibility. I find this interesting only in the pic of the cross sectioned fruit. Planfor, another commercial site, this time UK, touts it as edible. Daves Garden has many comments from their members, including frequency of flowering and other anecdotal observations, with no one claiming to have eaten the fruit. While this is sort of like the blind men describing the elephant by the one feature they've touched, all the comments on edibility and nature of fruit that I've found seem (to this very near-sighted person) to be describing either quince or medlars. While I find this quite entertaining, it strikes me that no where does anyone reminisce, "Ah, davidia fruit in late winter evokes my fondest memories of childhood." or "Refreshing snack with a little salt." or "My grampa used to make a lovely wine we'd have at Easter." Typically, for edibility, you'd expect at least one reference to it tasting like chicken. Or what ever else. Although chicken is the top most comparison for wild edibles that I've found, followed by asparagus. A few references note that the tree has a lovely scent, apparently the leaves in general. One, maybe Kew, actually noted that the tree "smells funny", too silly a comment for me to have taken seriously even though it was a serious site. Given that there is a detectable odor to the leaves, there might be volatiles in the fruit that would keep it from being insipid. That's not a sure thing, though. I know this is straying from Junglekeeper's original request for ID.
This is fine. I'd like to know more about the fruit. It's good that my original question initiated a discussion for those who are also interested in knowing more about this tree.
Basically a hard, woody nut with tiny kernels (almost impossible to extract), and surrounded by a thin, dry fibrous pulp. May not be poisonous, but definitely not edible, in much the same way that a lump of bone is neither poisonous nor edible.
Curiosity got the better of me. Here is a photo of the fruit and nut. The half-dissected fruit looks very much like a citrus juicer.
