Hi Don.
I tried fruits of E. hiemalis but unfortunately not found fruit. This year no species of Sapotaceae bore fruit in the region that I explored. It's the third year in a row I search for some species of Sapotaceae I'm monitoring but without success. This year the production of fruits in the Atlantic Forest was not good, this year there was a lot of variation in the Brazilian climate. In some regions there was too much rain, and other there was a drought that has been prolonged in recent years. I walked about 50 kilometers in the woods in recent days and found very few fruits. The monkeys are suffering from this situation, I saw something rare in recent days due to lack of fruit monkeys are being forced to feed on bromeliads, you walk and finds numerous bromeliads on the forest floor, which were uprooted trunks of trees . I'm no expert in monkeys and did not think they fed of bromeliads. The situation experienced by animals in the forest really is not easy.
For you have an idea only in the Mata Atlantica I'm monitoring some 120 species between Myrtaceas, Annonaceous, Sapotaceas, and others, but I can not collect fruits. Or plants suffer adverse climatic situations that prevent the production of fruits, or animals devour the fruits still green, not leaving fruit to collect. It's a frustrating situation, you know where this plant, know the identification species, know the time of fruiting and other details, but can not collect the fruit. Some you can imagine what sort of identification through the leaves and flowers, but to be sure of the precise identification analyze the fruit and can never find the fruit. Thus it is possible to understand how these poorly known species, have never been cultivated and are extensively known.
We are working to change this, just hope we can live another 100 years (if the forests, there are not disappeared) to show the world the true wealth of this planet.
I will try to look for other plants of E. hiemalis and try to find fruit.
Best Regards,
Vitor
