Unknown Fruit tree

Discussion in 'Fruit and Nut Trees' started by Pimento king, Jun 10, 2007.

  1. Pimento king

    Pimento king Member

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    Location:
    St. Ann, Jamaica, W.I.
    Can anyone identify this fruit tree and its fruits
     

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  2. Michael F

    Michael F Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Location:
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    Possibly a Guava (Psidium), though the pics are too small to be certain.
     
  3. Pimento king

    Pimento king Member

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    Location:
    St. Ann, Jamaica, W.I.
    Thanks Michael, but is definetly not guava. A guava is growing right beside this tree.
     
  4. Michael F

    Michael F Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Can you post larger pics? Around 200 to 500kb, rather than 15kb!

    Also if possible, pics showing the flowers, and the apex of the fruit.
     
  5. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    When you say a guava is growing beside it are you talking about Psidium guajava or P. cattleianum? Both are guavas yet look different.
     
  6. samljer

    samljer Active Member

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    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
    Shot in the dark here, since i know nothing of fruit tree's

    But they look almost like a pear that I sometimes get in china-town
    downtown toronto.
     
  7. Pimento king

    Pimento king Member

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    Location:
    St. Ann, Jamaica, W.I.
    First I want to thank you all for taking the time to try to identify my fruit tree, and secondly to post some larger pictures with the hope that it will be more clearly identifiable.

    Stay with me, please, thanks.
     

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  8. biggam

    biggam Active Member

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    Possibly a custard apple, relative of cherimoya?
     
  9. mikeyinfla

    mikeyinfla Active Member

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    Location:
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    looks more like pond apple it is a relative of cherimoya but not highly regarded the scientific name is Annona glabra. the only other two annonas besides pond apple that have that type of flower to my knowledge is soursop and mountain soursop.but they look different fruit and leaf wise. custard apple is used to describe allot of the fruits in the annona family in english custard apple is the annona reticulata. but it has a different flower and does look different even though allot of the annonas do look similar in some ways. but i am fairly sure that you're fruit is a pond apple.there are some people that like them but most say they donot i have two small fruit ripening so will be some time till i get to try one to find out if i like them for myself
     
  10. Pimento king

    Pimento king Member

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    Location:
    St. Ann, Jamaica, W.I.
    Hi Mickeyinfla,

    Thanks for your input. I did not know what a Pond Apple was but found some info on the internet. My fruits look a lot like the pond apple, but what beats me is that they say this plant only grows around water, thus its name. I am on very dry land eight miles from the nearest water source, the sea. Any other suggestion. Thanks.
     
  11. mr.shep

    mr.shep Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    San Joaquin Valley, California
    Is this a native tree or did you buy this one
    and plant it? Have you seen the fruit get
    to maturity yet? The reason I asked is that
    to ID this tree now might be presumptuous
    as the color of the fruit later may very well
    tell us what it is. You do have White and
    Black Sapote that are grown in your area.

    Jim
     
  12. mikeyinfla

    mikeyinfla Active Member

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    white sapote and black sapote have way way different blooms than a pond apple and way different from each other. i am fairly certain it is pond apple. they like growing near water but will grow in slightly drier conditions not happy but will grow. mine did not flower till this year i have been putting a hose on it with a slow trickle and it has grown more than any other year and now has a few fruit on it.and also have a good bit of mulch around it.
     
  13. mr.shep

    mr.shep Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Location:
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    I am not saying this tree is a Sapote but I
    am seeing a likeness to some Sapote that
    are a little more capable of growing on dry
    land than a Pond Apple, which also grows
    in the area. The leaf sizes, shapes and
    coloring of the veins of the leaves has me
    a little confused at the moment for this
    tree being a Pond Apple. How the
    leaves are arranged on the new growth
    branches is closer to being a Pond Apple
    however. Yes, the flowers of a Pond
    Apple differs from a White Sapote and
    its forms.

    Let's find out some of the history of this
    tree as it could very well be a Pond Apple
    but we may not know for sure until later
    when we see what the mature fruit looks
    like for color and shape and then slice
    open the fruit and see if we do have a
    form of Annonaceae. A short while
    to wait and then confirm may be the
    prudent thing to do for this tree until
    we know more about it.

    Pond Apple

    When we take into account in the All About
    Citrus & Subtropical Fruits
    book on page
    72 and can see 17 named varieties listed just
    of White Sapote, we should see in those
    varieties some of the variance in how the
    fruit is attached and in the shapes and color
    of the green and ripe fruit we see in some
    of the online photos of White Sapote.

    An added note: I am reminded of the
    Franklinia alatamaha that grows along
    creek banks that can be grown in ground
    here with some afternoon protection, as
    long as we deep water it. Overhead
    sprinkler watering alone will not suffice
    and has to be sheltered from our hot
    afternoon winds.

    Jim
     
  14. mikeyinfla

    mikeyinfla Active Member

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    Location:
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    well we can take white sapote out of the picture all together just based on the leaf shape and flower type allot of fruits look similar in some ways. the leaf is described as bright glossy, bright green, hand shaped leaves.also can eliminate blacke sapote while the leaves are similar but the bark color differes and the flower type is way way different heres a few pics one is of the white sapote all i have is seedlings that have yet to flower and fruit. a couple are of the black sapote bloom and fruit. and the other is of my pond apple fruit i have no flowers on it right now but the flowers where identical to the plant in kings pictures .i grow all the species we have been talking about among other tropical and subtropical fruiting plants 7 of those being Annonaceae that does not in any way make me an expert. but does give a little background as to why i say it is a pond apple with certainty. the first two pics are black sapote the third is white sapote and the fourth is of my pond apple
     

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    Last edited: Jun 23, 2007
  15. mr.shep

    mr.shep Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Location:
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    Look at the photo of the Pond Apple from
    this link and notice the coloring of the veins
    in the leaves. There are a few other online
    references to the yellow veining, more visibly
    seen in the newer growth leaves as well. I
    never said the tree in question is not a Pond
    Apple but the photos presented so far do not
    quite jive with several other online photos of
    supposedly the same plant. I believe there
    might be more than one form of Pond Apple
    by the online photos I've seen. Just like there
    are varying leaf shapes, leaf colors and leaf
    sizes for the White Sapote as seen online
    as well. We can fall right into the trap that
    grafted plants may not appear the same as
    those parent plants are on their own roots
    or those parent plants came about as seedling
    selections.

    Key West Botanical Garden: Desbiens Pond Tour

    We have a problem with the exocarp, what
    it is now for smoothness of the skin and
    what it should look like for color and feel
    like later. A minor transformation needs
    to take place and it is too early to tell if
    and when we will see it. What explanation
    will you have then if the exocarp of the
    fruit upon maturity stays green or turns
    a golden or a russet color and remains
    relatively smooth?

    You've done very well here. Let me and
    others learn from you then. Tell us what
    you think and know.

    Jim
     
  16. mikeyinfla

    mikeyinfla Active Member

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    Location:
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    pond apple may have different skin colors as a rule there are no cultivars of pond apple to my knowledge no breeding work has been done to improve them. most people i know that have tried them donot say good things about it. however different people have different taste and some do like them.have even talk to some one that ate a pond apple in the everglades that every one that was with him liked but noone kept seeds or marked where the tree was. if kings plant was a selected fruit and planted on purpose for eating than he may have a good fruit. someday someone may do some breeding work by going into the wild and finding good tasting fruit growing seeds and breeding them to improve them. it may also be that the original planting the pond apple was a rootstock and for some reason or another the scion / graft part died out and the rootstock grew out and was left.my pond apple was given to me i was going to try to graft it when i first got it but figured i would grow it out so i can use it as a seed source for rootstock i have never tried the fruit i will get a chance when mine rippens and i will get to see the quality of the fruit if it is good decent or not so good. i may later try some crosses with other annona not sure of its cross compatablity with other annona. but only had two flowers this year and only one of those fruits is growing. one is about the size of a marble and has been for several months the other is about the size of a racket ball and it is a younger fruit. hopefully kings fruit is a good one for him
     

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