Look at my Grumixamas... red or black?

[Miguel.pt]

Hello all

though I share with you some pics of my Grumixamas.
this is the first time it gave me a decent harvest and in fact I believe that almost every single flower turned into a fruit.... this is a little phenomenon because Grumixamas are known to be finicky on fruit production... I've had other bushes that flowered a lot just to give me one or two fruits.... but this one is really productive







I'm not sure if this is the red or black variety... fruits turn almost black when properly ripe but the flesh is whitish so I'm guessing this is the red variety according to the photos on Lorenzi's book... but really I don't care about the variety as this fruit is probably one of the best tasting Eugenia fruits I have had so far... top of the rank together with calycinas, CoRG and Dwarf Black pitangas....
look how beautiful it gets when stripped out of it's skin

[fruitlovers]

Your grumichamas are a lot redder than the ones i have. I call mine purple, not black. But you can see for yourself they get quite dark:

[FlyingFoxFruits]

Looks red to me.

But regardless of color, it sounds like you have an excellent variety...not all grumixamas were created equal....some are head and shoulders above the rest.

I bet your seeds will produce superior quality trees.

[ScottR]

Nice pic's Miguel, I'm assuming that your Grumichamas were seedlings how long until they fruited for you?

[Miguel.pt]

Nice pic's Miguel, I'm assuming that your Grumichamas were seedlings how long until they fruited for you?

Hello ScottR
Don't remember exactly but I should have received those seeds from Brazil back in 2008 or 2009... have several bushes from the same seed pack and one of those fruited first time in 2013 but only two or 3 fruits... this particular bush flowered and fruited this year for first time.

[Miguel.pt]

HI Oscar,

Do you have any photo of one of your Grumixamas cut in half ?... just wondering if the flesh is purple or white?

[FlyingFoxFruits]

flesh is usually like an olive green white (with hints of purple/red)

[ScottR]

More or less about 6 years from seed great thanks

[Miguel.pt]

Hi folks
Been reading and searching about this species to try to properly identify the variety I have here... I'm now convinced that the one I have growing here is the "Eugenia brasiliensis var. erythrocarpa" aka "Red grumixama" according to the last book "Frutas no Brasil" from Lorenzi et all...

But the really interesting characteristic for us "zone pushers" is that this seems to be the smallest grumixama species... so the best for growing in pots...my experience for sure confirms this!... at 7 or 8 YO my biggest/tallest tree is less than 3 meters high and doesn't seem to be growing much more...

So according to Lorenzi this "Red grumixama var. erythrocarpa" gets to 2-4 meters high... the black one goes up to 8-15 meters high... and the yellow one get up to 3-5 meters high...interesting, don't you think?!

[FlyingFoxFruits]

that's a rare one Miguel..I'd buy about 10 seeds if you have some.   

[ScottR]

You have confirmed to me that you are "Mr Eugenia" Miguel,that sounds like Adam said you have a rare variety growing! My regular grumies are very slow growing for me so I'll wait before trying seeds of this rare one! Thanks for posting
OK I've got to get my fix Miguel if you have a few seeds left by birds I would like some please

[Miguel.pt]

Hi Adam and Scott

Just to confirm I do have fresh seeds available now.

Adam you have mail... Scott you have PM

thanks guys!

[Mango Stein]

@Oscar Black and Purple Grumichamas not the same variety. The only difference to my eye seems to be that the Black variety has green calyxes while the purple variety has purple calyxes. This would actually make your variety the black one, but it seems there is a lot of fluidity between these 'varieties'. Surprised to hear Miguel talk of drastic height differences.

Helton has pics and names of three varieties: http://www.colecionandofrutas.org/eugeniabrasili.htm but there are certainly more. He confirmed to me that the red variety 'erythrocarpa' is a variety that came from the purple 'erythrocarpus'. Moreover, there is a bright yellow one 'leucocarpus' as well as a dark yellow (amber) colored one. Not sure if this is the same as the orange variety.