Author Topic: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)  (Read 15561 times)

jcaldeira

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Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« on: June 12, 2012, 02:15:50 AM »
I was fortunate enough today to add some traditional Fijian fruit trees to my farm.  I picked up 9 fruit trees and two sandalwood trees at no cost, as part of a reforestation program.  An organization called Conservation International has funding from Fiji Water to reforest so the water company can claim to be "carbon emission negative" in our global ecology.  Here's what I 'think' I have: 

Wi  (Spondias dulcis)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spondias_dulcis


Ivi (Inocarpus fagifer)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inocarpus_fagifer


Tarawau (Dracontomelon vitiense)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracontomelon
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?ref=archive&id=66569


Dawa (Fijian longan; Pometia pinnata)
http://www.montosogardens.com/pometia_pinnata.htm


My mystery fruit tree is one the farm hand called "Indian Breadfruit".  The leaves are clearly not breadfruit and a quick internet search did not help me identify it.  Does anyone know what this might be?


Some of these I have already re-bagged and will keep in my shadehouse for another 5 months or so, until the beginning of the rainy seasion.    Just had to share this today.

John
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fruitlovers

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #1 on: June 12, 2012, 02:42:26 AM »
Hi John, you might want to know that the ivi (Tahitian chestnut) needs a companion for cross pollination. Don't know what that mystery tree is. Jackfruit is sometimes called the Indian Breadfruit, but that photo doesn't look like jackfruit.
Oscar

Mike T

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2012, 03:11:03 AM »
John that looks like a nice greenhouse for producing loads of trees.Fiji longans are good fruit (if the birds don't get them first) on huge trees and really cop it and snap in cyclones.Some people call the tuans.The new guinea people and other melanesians seem to favour them and red,dark and green ones are in the markets here sometimes.Do you get different colours and small fruiting trees there.
It is hard to see any detail on the indian jackruit. 

Felipe

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #3 on: June 12, 2012, 01:32:15 PM »
Cool! Thanks for sharing and good luck with your new trees. Keep us updated with the fruits ;)

MangoFang

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #4 on: June 12, 2012, 03:23:31 PM »
JC - nice freebies ya got there.  I'm interested in the Sandalwood Tree - do you (or perhaps Fruitlovers) know its tempertaure requirements and anything else that would allow it to grow in the States?  Just LOVE the smell
of that incense....any pics of that tree?

thanks, Gary

Jackfruitwhisperer69

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #5 on: June 12, 2012, 04:28:57 PM »
Hi John,

Your nursery is growing by the minute 8) Trees are always a blessings in any piece of land with numerous advantages like shade, medicine, food...etc.

Thanks for sharing ;)

PS you try to build your self a food forest with permaculture techniques...watch vids of Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton you will get inspired by these two gentlemen :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture
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You cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again.
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Jackfruitwhisperer69

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #6 on: June 12, 2012, 04:30:36 PM »
JC - nice freebies ya got there.  I'm interested in the Sandalwood Tree - do you (or perhaps Fruitlovers) know its tempertaure requirements and anything else that would allow it to grow in the States?  Just LOVE the smell
of that incense....any pics of that tree?

thanks, Gary

Hi Mangofang,
He's a pdf on sandlewood...hope it answers some of your questions.
http://agroforestry.net/tti/Santalum-a-y-sandalwood.pdf
Time is like a river.
You cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again.
Enjoy every moment of your life!

jcaldeira

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #7 on: June 12, 2012, 05:06:43 PM »
JC - nice freebies ya got there.  I'm interested in the Sandalwood Tree - do you (or perhaps Fruitlovers) know its tempertaure requirements and anything else that would allow it to grow in the States?  Just LOVE the smell
of that incense....any pics of that tree?

thanks, Gary
Here's a photo of the two sandalwood trees I received yesterday.  They are the thin-leaved plants in each pot.  Sandalwood has parasitic roots that attach to host plants to benefit from their root system.  Citrus makes a good host, so on my other sandalwood I simply planted a rough lemon seed with each sandalwood seed.

I don't know their cold tolerance, but they are very drought tolerant and do well on poor, rocky soil.  They are easy to start from seed, but I don't know how long the seeds remain viable.  They are slow-growing, taking 20 years or more to get a good crop of fragrant heartwood.



John
« Last Edit: June 12, 2012, 05:25:58 PM by jcaldeira »
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jcaldeira

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2012, 05:10:23 PM »
Here's a better photo of the "Indian Breadfruit" seedling I received.  It's leaf is so different from the regular south pacific breadfruit that I doubt it's related.  I'm hoping someone can ID it so I know more about it's growing requirements.



John
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fruitlovers

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #9 on: June 12, 2012, 05:11:04 PM »
JC - nice freebies ya got there.  I'm interested in the Sandalwood Tree - do you (or perhaps Fruitlovers) know its tempertaure requirements and anything else that would allow it to grow in the States?  Just LOVE the smell
of that incense....any pics of that tree?

thanks, Gary

Hi Gary, there are many different species of Santalum. The ones that are native to Hawaii grows at high elevation, around 3000 feet, so can take some cool weather, but not freezing. I think it would have a hard time with high heat of Palm Springs. Maybe the Indian species would be better suited? I think all the sandalwoods are semi parasitic plants and very slow growing. BTW the aroma comes from the oil of the central core of the tree, so the tree itself is not fragrant.
Oscar

Mike T

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #10 on: June 13, 2012, 05:17:53 AM »
John the indian breadfruit is not very distictive in its foliage.It might take a flower or fruit to get a positive ID.

fruitlovers

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #11 on: June 13, 2012, 05:29:28 AM »
I wonder if the mystery tree could be Mayan breadnut (Brosiminum alicastrum), called ramon in spanish?
See here, scroll down to Maya Nut:
http://www.yucatanadventure.com.mx/yucatan-flora.htm
Oscar

murahilin

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #12 on: June 13, 2012, 09:51:36 AM »
John, can you post an up close pic of the new growth?

Felipe

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #13 on: June 13, 2012, 02:37:13 PM »
John, have you tasted Pometia pinnata fruits? If the answer is yes, how would you rate it?

jcaldeira

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #14 on: June 13, 2012, 05:17:53 PM »
John, have you tasted Pometia pinnata fruits? If the answer is yes, how would you rate it?
No, I have not tasted the Dawa (Fijian Longan).  It's one of those fruits I passed up in the markets because I didn't know what it was or what to do with it.  Next time it's in season I intend to try it.

These links contain a few reviews of the fruit:

http://gardenemerald.blogspot.com/2010/08/fijian-longan-kasai.html
http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/forum/fijian-longan1/
http://www.cloudforest.com/cafe/forum/201073164.html
http://www.fshs.org/Proceedings/Password%20Protected/1971%20Vol.%2084/323-325%20(WHITMAN).pdf

Quote from the above pdf link: "Born in clusters like the lychee, they weigh about eleven to the pound with a flavor resembling a bland tasting longan (Eiiphoria long ana). The semi-transparent, juicy, white flesh contains a single marble-size seed, which according to Barrett (1) "May be eaten boiled or roasted'. . . . .Of the three trees described the writer prefers the fruit of the Fijian longan which is thought to be pleasant but not outstanding."

Maybe Oscar or someone else has tried it (?)

John
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fruitlovers

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #15 on: June 13, 2012, 06:13:30 PM »
Yes i've tasted Fijian longan (Pometia pinnata) and was pleasantly surprised, as i remembered Morton described them as low quality. We only have one brown type. I've read that in Australia they have a bunch of different colored ones, some of which quite good. I'm sure Mike can give more details?
Oscar

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #16 on: June 13, 2012, 10:35:08 PM »
I think Oscar IDed it right.  Brosimum, Mayan Breadnut.
Har

jcaldeira

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #17 on: June 14, 2012, 01:12:15 AM »
I think Oscar IDed it right.  Brosimum, Mayan Breadnut.
Next week I intend to visit the tree nursery that grew it, and will ask them more questions then and hopefully take some close-ups of the leaf structure and growing tips.  Mine is an overall poor specimen.

Right now my shadehouse is filled to capacity with germinating seeds, rootstocks and young trees waiting to be planted out.  It's a good time!  I'm only doing limited out-planting now due to the watering commitment.  Most planting will be November-January, in the early part of our rainy season.

John
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fruitlovers

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #18 on: June 14, 2012, 01:22:39 AM »
I think Oscar IDed it right.  Brosimum, Mayan Breadnut.
Next week I intend to visit the tree nursery that grew it, and will ask them more questions then and hopefully take some close-ups of the leaf structure and growing tips.  Mine is an overall poor specimen.

Right now my shadehouse is filled to capacity with germinating seeds, rootstocks and young trees waiting to be planted out.  It's a good time!  I'm only doing limited out-planting now due to the watering commitment.  Most planting will be November-January, in the early part of our rainy season.

John

Enjoy! Take lots of photos if you can. It's nice to see the growth changes through the years.
Oscar

Mike T

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #19 on: June 14, 2012, 03:19:41 AM »
Oscar there are a bunch of diferent types of fiji longan around but they are not really common.The types from nth east new guinea and the solomons seem to be pretty good and large but I don't know the origin of most.They can be brown,maroon,red.green or yellow and vary alot in some characteristics.The shell is thick on some and hard to break by hand but thin and brittle on others.Flesh thickness and flesh colour varies and sweetness does also.The best ones have big sweet fruit with a thin shell and thick flesh.Fiji longan is an excellent fruit and deserves to be grown much more.
In the season I'll take some snaps if I can get good ones.

fruitlovers

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #20 on: June 14, 2012, 05:01:46 AM »
Hi Mike, thanks for the info. There was an article by Maurice Kong from one of his trips to Australia describing different Fijian Longans. It was in the CRFG Fruit Gardener magazine a couple years ago.
Oscar

Mike T

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #21 on: June 14, 2012, 05:37:32 AM »
Fiji longans can be big trees with masses of fruit too high to reach.They break off in cyclones to main branches and this natural pruning can give a trees a few years later that is reasonably small with lots of fruit.The trees then grow tall again.

fruitlovers

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #22 on: June 14, 2012, 05:49:30 AM »
Fijian longan is very difficult to grow here due to rose beetle. It seems this is their favorite plants and they really clobber it.
Oscar

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #23 on: June 14, 2012, 08:22:27 AM »
Hi

To me the mystery plant does not look like mayan breadnut. Mine have small pointy leaves.

Tomas

jcaldeira

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Re: Some Traditional Fijian Fruit Trees (& one mystery)
« Reply #24 on: June 17, 2012, 05:09:16 PM »
I wonder if the mystery tree could be Mayan breadnut (Brosiminum alicastrum), called ramon in spanish?
See here, scroll down to Maya Nut:
http://www.yucatanadventure.com.mx/yucatan-flora.htm
It appears I do have a "Breadnut", but I'm thinking the type I have is probably Artocarpus camansi.   The Ag guy described a large, breadfruit-like fruit to me.
http://agroforestry.net/tti/A.camansi-breadnut.pdf

The juvenile leaves are quite different from the mature type, so I was baffled.  In the above link,  juvenile specimens are shown on page 7. 

Summary from the above link:
"Breadnut (Artocarpus camansi) is native to New Guinea and possibly the Moluccas (Indonesia) and the Philippines.  . . . . Artocarpus camansi has often been considered to be a form of seeded breadfruit, A. altilis.  Breadfruit, however, is a separate species that originated from its wild seeded ancestor, breadnut. . . .  Beginning in the late 1700s the British and French spread breadnut throughout the tropics.  The oblong, spiny fruits have little pulp and are primarily grown for their large, nutritious seeds, although immature fruits, seeds and all, are thinly sliced and cooked as a vegetable, especially in the Philippines. The seeds are high in protein and relatively low in fat. They are boiled or roasted and are similar to chestnuts in texture and flavor."
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