Are These Anything Worthwhile?

[Fiddler]

Across the street from me is an overgrown lot. I never took any interest in it until I saw a county worker go in and put up fruit fly traps. This guy informed me that back in the thicket there were several old fruit trees. I never bothered investigating because the thicket is pretty much impenetrable.
    This morning I saw these fruit hanging from a rather large tree. Are they Surinam Cherries or something?

[TheGivingTree]

Pretty sure that's a Florida soapberry. The fruits open similar to ackee and are inedible.

[spaugh]

Looks like a carrotwood tree.  Not edible. 

[Rex Begonias]

That's a Carrotwood tree (Cupaniopsis anacardioides) for sure, seriously invasive; most likely no edible potential either, though Green Deane of eattheweeds.com claims there was some record of Aboriginals eating the aril, but he ate it and it burned his mouth and upset his stomach; I think I'll steer clear personally.

My chainsaw has had a few dates with these trees though and the wood made a decent landscape border for several years.

https://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/plant-directory/cupaniopsis-anacardioides/

[sc4001992]

Same here, I have that tree in the front parkway and it does need to be chain sawed every few years to keep it maintained or it will get out of hand and some large branches can break off the tree here when we get heavy winds (Santa Ana). When I was cutting my large branches on my tree, I saw something unusual on it. My tree has a sport mutation and a few branches are all yellow (leaf and branch) so I may need to take an air layer or graft this branch off since it looks neat.

[Rex Begonias]

I used garlon on them after stumping, some of the stumps still try to sucker a few years later, but it's not much.  I should probably apply an herbicide again so as to not have to keep dealing with them.

Here in S FL these things are everywhere, and reseed easily; They're pretty high up there on the list as one of our worst invasives.

Interestingly enough, I've also seen them as centerpiece trees on multimillion dollar homes, lol.  I guess my perception of them is different than others, I'd like to see them all stumped, lol.  We have plenty of pretty natives and useful trees that could be planted instead; I'd recommend Paradise Tree to someone looking to replace a Carrotwood.  https://i.etsystatic.com/18026585/r/il/5c8ac9/1859874616/il_570xN.1859874616_849g.jpg
Has that similar glossy pinnate tropical looking leaf and they also make a lot of use of them out in SE asia/India from what I've heard, tho I doubt I'd go the trouble on a small scale personally.

[Grow Tropicals]

Across the street from me is an overgrown lot. I never took any interest in it until I saw a county worker go in and put up fruit fly traps. This guy informed me that back in the thicket there were several old fruit trees. I never bothered investigating because the thicket is pretty much impenetrable.
    This morning I saw these fruit hanging from a rather large tree. Are they Surinam Cherries or something?

Since you're in Florida (also!), I thought this was interesting:

Carrotwood is not recommended by UF/IFAS. It is a prohibited plant according to the FDACS Florida Noxious Weed Index. The UF/IFAS Assessment lists carrotwood as prohibited in all parts of the state. It is listed by FLEPPC as a Category l invasive species due to its ability to invade and displace native plant communities.

[Mike T]

Cupaniopsis anacardioides looks a lot like a longam tree. Their common name is tuckeroo and they are all over the place in my home town. The fruit pigeons and other birds tank up on them. They are a bush tucker edible species that is not poisonous but the scant red flesh around the 3 seeds usually has an ordinary taste.

[Rex Begonias]

Cupaniopsis anacardioides looks a lot like a longam tree. Their common name is tuckeroo and they are all over the place in my home town. The fruit pigeons and other birds tank up on them. They are a bush tucker edible species that is not poisonous but the scant red flesh around the 3 seeds usually has an ordinary taste.

I should say invasive here in FL/USA, but obviously native part of the ecosystem out there for you Mike T.  A lot of the seriously problematic invasives are also quite successful in their native ranges with large native ranges, which is unsurprising, but still interesting to hear about the tree from someone who lives in its native range.

Yeah, they’re in that soapberry family with longans, lot of similarities for sure.

I’m going to start calling them Tuckeroos now cuz it sounds cooler.

[Mike T]

It strikes me as odd that of the 1000s of local native plant species I in my area just a few have made it into horticulture overseas. Mind you of all the dozens of Syzygiums a couple of the more poxy lilly pillies are on that list, of all the highly diverse and interesting Melaleucas just a couple of ratty larger kinds are overseas, of the Eucalypts the most boring least ornamental ones are in that category and same goes for Callistemons. The ivory curl, golden penda, illawarra flame tree, wheel of fire, Roaring Meg Vine, native rhododendron, Banksias etc don't seem to get a look in. Trashy species with little ornamental or food value like Atracticarpus and Cupaniopsis are the ones grown overseas.

[EddieF]

Mike T,  i wish we here in FL got the nice ones you mention.

I myself likely have tree that started thread.  City gave them out to replace citrus trees they came on property & removed 10-15yrs ago.

Honestly, if you care for this tree, it does great.. Can shape it like umbrella.  Great for shade break when it's 95F & you're pruning other trees.

Wish i still had the lime & orange tree but insects & diseases also get imported.

Mike, i read Austrian Lime is effective fighting "citrus greening".  Do you know anything about it?

[bsbullie]

Carrotwood also snaps very easy, which makes it a poor selection for street plantings (heavily planted by municipalities years ago...most have been removed due to damage or its invasive classification ).  Its also a poor selection here in SFla due to our stormy weather and hurricanes.

[Oolie]

It strikes me as odd that of the 1000s of local native plant species I in my area just a few have made it into horticulture overseas. Mind you of all the dozens of Syzygiums a couple of the more poxy lilly pillies are on that list, of all the highly diverse and interesting Melaleucas just a couple of ratty larger kinds are overseas, of the Eucalypts the most boring least ornamental ones are in that category and same goes for Callistemons. The ivory curl, golden penda, illawarra flame tree, wheel of fire, Roaring Meg Vine, native rhododendron, Banksias etc don't seem to get a look in. Trashy species with little ornamental or food value like Atracticarpus and Cupaniopsis are the ones grown overseas.

Your soil is like ours from before the continents split.

We have many ornamental trees here from your list, the lily pilly at least produces a snack.

[BQ McFry]

I had a large carrotwood in my back yard of a prior home in Anaheim CA. Since it was very mature and the only tree in the yard, I simply had it shaped rather than remove it. The main drawbacks were that it would shade out the grass to some extent, and it dropped many hard nuts that would become pointy shells after the squirrels worked on them. Unpleasant to walk barefoot upon.

[Mike T]

Oolie There is a bit more going on with soils that the 55 millions years and 40 degree change in latitude might suggest. My point with Syzygiums is that when I see say S. cormiflorum, payraceum,erythrocalyx,wilsoni and dozens of other locals ones in the bush I wonder why they never went on overseas trips. With Eucalypts there are probably 55 better choices than the red river gums and the like that went international. Banksias, waratahs, brightly and profusely flowering callistemons and melaleucas of small tree size are other examples. It is a bit like tropical fruit with the lowest common denominator where the poorer varieties get circulated first.
The Cupaniopsis is everywhere in cyclone alley in Qld and chooses to have brittle wood and shatter, then regrow as its strategy. They dont tend to blow over with roots pointing skywards or snap at the base. Some trees are very flexible or lose foliage quickly as their storm strategies.