Bunchosia argentea (peanut butter fruit) the real one

[ftmyersfruit]

I have a tree that produced two fruits recently and the taste and texture reminded me immediately of peanut butter.

[gunnar429]

http://www.arthurleej.com/p-o-m-May11.html

according to this site, the PB fruit most people have is B. glandulifera.  He claims B. armenaica is rarely ever cultivated in S. America.

thoughts?

Adam, any luck with B. argentea, or did you finally give up?

[FlyingFoxFruits]

maybe I've got it twisted, but it's somewhat confusing because the author says B. argentea was mistaken for B. glandulifera, but all the plants that were mistaken for B. argentea are actually, B. armeniaca.

so I think the author is also mistaken!

what he's been told is argentea, is actually armeniaca (the most widely cultivated type)...and is not the same as glandulifera, which maybe the true name for what we've been calling argentea.

(btw, no luck with what i've been calling argentea, it flowers but doesn't set fruit in my experience...i gave it 2yrs, then gave it away)

http://www.arthurleej.com/p-o-m-May11.html

according to this site, the PB fruit most people have is B. glandulifera.  He claims B. armenaica is rarely ever cultivated in S. America.

thoughts?

Adam, any luck with B. argentea, or did you finally give up?

[huertasurbanas]

I can take some photos to my seedling, from the fruit I tasted, that was very good... it should be bunchosia argentea

[huertasurbanas]

I can take some photos to my seedling, from the fruit I tasted, that was very good... it should be bunchosia argentea

What do you think?

[FlyingFoxFruits]

your tree is the species I have been calling B. armeniaca...whatever it is, it's the species that fruits easily in FL...the other species, what I've been calling B. argentea, fruits in CA, but doesn't seem to fruit in FL...it supposedly has sweeter, rounder fruits.

I can take some photos to my seedling, from the fruit I tasted, that was very good... it should be bunchosia argentea

What do you think?

[huertasurbanas]

your tree is the species I have been calling B. armeniaca...whatever it is, it's the species that fruits easily in FL...the other species, what I've been calling B. argentea, fruits in CA, but doesn't seem to fruit in FL...it supposedly has sweeter, rounder fruits.

Ok, good to know it, the fruit was not round, but very good flavour

[buddyguygreen]

Which peanut butter fruit is this one, I bought the seeds from you adam over a year ago, I think you said they were from the plant at F&S park

[Mango Stein]

This is Sadhu's Peanut butter tree, which he is selling as B. argentea.

As there is a lot of confusion over ID of this genus, is this an accurate and unambiguous correct match?

[shaneatwell]

Which peanut butter fruit is this one, I bought the seeds from you adam over a year ago, I think you said they were from the plant at F&S park

From the pics in the rest of the thread, Armenianca.

[Mango Stein]

Ok folks I have been totally convinced of what is going on with this naming confusion of Bunchosia, after some careful research.

The truth is, that the popularized variety of peanut butter fruit in America and much of the West is NEITHER armeniaca nor argentea. These spp. have straight leaves, different flowers/fruit to what everyone is growing. Sorry Adam, I think you are mistaken and the link gunnar provided to A.L. Jacobson is totally correct. The correct ID is B. GLANDULIFERA. http://www.arthurleej.com/p-o-m-May11.html

His source of information is the University of Michigan, which provides concise descriptions, photos of the flowers, fruit and leaves for about 30 Bunchosia spp. They know this genus very well. The only other bunchosia with wavy leaves is B. nitida, but that has flowers with smaller petals. http://herbarium.lsa.umich.edu/malpigh/BunClade/Bunchosia/Bun1.html#Pix

[marklee]

Here is mine in San Diego from last year, tasted just like peanut butter. Not sure of the species now after all the talk.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

the Frutas No Brazil book is in concurrence with my statements.

[Mango Stein]

Ok, someone is making a big blunder here, but my money is still on the University of Michigan, rather than the Frutas No Brasil book.

Adam, you might be surprised to learn that the Brazilian Bureau for Plant Taxonomy does not even catalogue B. armeniaca among its 13 species. Maybe that is because it is not endemic to Brazil (although it lists B. glandulifera which is also not endemic). The wavy leafed variety popularised in America is the same one that has been popularized all over Brazil too, so I think it is unlikely that they would not have it in their database.

@marklee You have B. glandulifera in my opinion and I think time will prove me right.

http://reflora.jbrj.gov.br/reflora/listaBrasil/ConsultaPublicaUC/BemVindoConsultaPublicaConsultar.do?invalidatePageControlCounter=2&idsFilhosAlgas=%5B2%5D&idsFilhosFungos=%5B1%2C11%2C10%5D&lingua=&grupo=5&familia=null&genero=Bunchosia&especie=&autor=&nomeVernaculo=&nomeCompleto=&formaVida=null&substrato=null&ocorreBrasil=QUALQUER&ocorrencia=OCORRE&endemismo=TODOS&origem=TODOS&regiao=QUALQUER&estado=QUALQUER&ilhaOceanica=32767&domFitogeograficos=QUALQUER&bacia=QUALQUER&vegetacao=TODOS&mostrarAte=SUBESP_VAR&opcoesBusca=TODOS_OS_NOMES&loginUsuario=Visitante&senhaUsuario=&contexto=consulta-publica

[Mango Stein]

Below is the only photograph of B. armeniaca that is from an official source. It was taken by a K Steiner in Ecuador.

Interestingly Portuguese/Brazilian wikipedia for their Bunchosia article list the U. Michigan resource as an external source, not even using their own resources.

[Bananaizme]

    I just received one in the mail today from Lynn in Ft. Meyers , Its labeled ( argentea)  Now I wonder if its the real one. The leaves look like the ones in Marks pic .

 William

[Mango Stein]

'Argentea' comes from the Latin word for silver. Indeed B. argentea has a stark white-silver colored underside of the leaf. For those wanting to know if they have the real thing it should look like this: http://www.tropicos.org/Name/19501436?tab=images

B. glandulifera looks like this: http://www.tropicos.org/Name/19500136?tab=images and I bet everyone here will instantly recognize these images.

For some reason Tropicos does not have any images of B. armeniaca, which should tell us something...

Edit: Found 10 photos of Armeniaca on the New York Botanical Garden page. Look nothing like the wavy leaved form, rather straight with a long sharp point. http://sweetgum.nybg.org/vh/specimen_list.php?QueryName=BasicQuery&QueryPage=http%3A%2F%2Fsciweb.nybg.org%2Fscience2%2Fvii2.asp&Restriction=NybRecordType+%3D+%27Specimen%27&StartAt=1&any=SummaryData|AdmWebMetadata&QueryOption=any&Submit=Search&QueryTerms=Bunchosia+armeniaca

[Mango Stein]

If anyone knows Latin, descriptions of each: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/154538#page/588/mode/1up

An article in the journals Taxon by C. V. Morton. Vol. 12 No. 3 (June 1968) pp. 314-24 says that B. Armeniaca has 'free styles' as opposed to the other main sp.

This video from Brazil of 'guarana' has me perplexed. It has both the wavy leaves, silver underside and pointed fruit. Would the dark green leaves be lighter if in full sun I wonder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrR1yshyFwI

[joehewitt]

I have three Bunchosias, and it appears that each of them is a different species. Look at the comparison of the young leaves of each tree. The first one has large leaves with wavy edges (this one's from Logee's and is probably Glandulifera). The middle one has extremely hairy and silvery leaves with smooth edges (perhaps Argentea?). The third has waxy non-hairy leaves and slightly wavy edges.

Anyone have any idea which one is which here?

[Mango Stein]

I would agree with your assumptions and add that I think the bottom one is armeniaca. But taxonomists are currently working on this very genus and should have confirmation this year from them.

[barath]

Does anyone know what might be a cause of yellow / pale new growth on Bunchosia?  (I don't know which species I have).  The tree seems otherwise healthy but all its new growth is yellow / pale.  I repotted it with some extra peat to see if that'd help, but I haven't seen a difference yet.

[shaneatwell]

After rereading this thread a couple times, here's what I get:

Mango Stein says wavy leaf is glandulifera, pointy is argentea and wider non-wavy is armeniaca. Flyingfoxfruits says wavy is armeniaca and wide non-pointy/non-wavy is argentea? Or is FFF saying that the pointy is argentea? If its the latter then the disagreement is about armeniaca and glandulifera only.

Is that an accurate summary?

I think that Mango Stein makes a good argument. I especially like the connection to the names (glands on underside of leaves, vs. silvery underside vs. apricot looking fruit, i.e non-pointy?)

Joe's pictures from top to bottom look like wavy, pointy and wide, or in Mango Stein's system glandulifera, argentea and armeniaca. Marklees then would be the wide, armeniaca. Same with buddy guy and huertas. Luc's I'd say are pointy, argentea. And Treesnmore is showing glandulifera and argentea (not armeniaca and argentea).

Just trying to understand here, not get into an argument.

[buddyguygreen]

Sounds about right, the B. glandulifera pictures from mango steins link look identical to mine. After learning about the differences i come to the conclusion that as long as it taste like peanut butter than its a good enough peanut butter fruit tree, I have one flowering now so if it sets fruit i'll report back with my final conclusion if its worthy of the name.

[Mango Stein]

Actually joehewitt, I'm not sure about the middle bunchosia in your image, since I though argentea was only supposed to be silvery on the underside. Unless your image is indeed argentea which has silver all over new growth. Please update when it has mature leaves.

Personally I've never grown this genus because I am in a temperate climate and also want to get the best tasting cold tolerant one. I think Helton once told me B. maritima is the best.

[joehewitt]

I checked the leaf undersides of all three trees, and none of them are white. However, they are still emerging from dormancy so all of the leaves are still small. I'll post updated photos of the leaves once they're full size.