Cambucá and other trees

[Cassio]

I see now that my plant bark is greyish, but areas that have lost exterior bark look reddish underneath. So i'm wondering if really this is a significant difference, and plants that have just lost bark will all look reddish?

Well, the two greyish trees that I found don´t turned red anytime that I remember along the last year.
Of course I wasn´t at their side all the months, but at least one time each two months I was there. And the trunk diameter is to much different as you can see in the photos that i posted.
Almost forgot... I have another tree in a container, with 1,20~1,70 m tall, which I bought in march as a cambucá, but I´m unsure about the identification cause the leafs form and the general aspect of the tree. I´ll post photos later and hopefully you can help me to identify her correctly.

[RICBITAR]

The TRUNK:

I know 43 mature tree of cambuca, 14 in Sao Paulo, and 29 in Santa Catarina
There no difference in Cambuca, the red and the grey are the same Cambuca, do not have different colors, for some reason in a few years it gets the more reddish trunk, but the same tree is grey trunk in others years
The small fruit in the red trunk Cassio said, is because is not season , is the second  blooming, a few flower and small fruits, is the last fruits of the season
I dont know if you remember I has posted in the forum pictures of a big tree cambuca around 200 years old in the forest, the trunk was very red, but all seedling around the tree have grey trunk
In my farm have a tree cambuca around 8 years old, begining the year the trunk are red, now are gray,
The size of the fruit is relative, last year I harvest for one tree 8.800 fruits, big fruits, this year the same tree I harvest 2.300 fruits , small fruits
The size of fruit is not related to the color of the trunk, because do not have red or grey trunk, all is only the same Cambuca tree

The Leaves :

I have several seedling from 2013, all seeds from the same tree, some seedling the leaves are big and wide, others seedling is regular size leaves, The difference is so significant that my employee thought was another specie of fruit, I said no, is the same , I will take pictures to post
Same in a big Cambuca tree you can find small rounded leaves and big elongated leaves in the same tree, Who has a large tree of Cambucá can check this

SOrry for my bad english

[ScottR]

Cassio, thanks for this post great pic's and good information
Ricbitar, big thanks to you for your input of information on growing all these rare fruits
Both of you guys are helping many of us learn about these rare fruit trees, keep up the great work

[FlyingFoxFruits]

Ricbitar 

Thanks for the info

But what's strange is that all of the seedligs that were originally introduced into the USA have the elongated leaf, I've never seen the round leaves until recently (after we collected new varieties)

All of the seedlings that resulted from the trees already here, have the same elongated leaves (showing only slight variations in size and shape)

[Cassio]

The TRUNK:

I know 43 mature tree of cambuca, 14 in Sao Paulo, and 29 in Santa Catarina
There no difference in Cambuca, the red and the grey are the same Cambuca, do not have different colors, for some reason in a few years it gets the more reddish trunk, but the same tree is grey trunk in others years [...]

So, this is the surprise you´re talking about?... Never mind Ricardo! Thank you for the explanation.
I´ll watch the development of those trees in Butantan with to much interest.

last year I harvest for one tree 8.800 fruits, big fruits, this year the same tree I harvest 2.300 fruits , small fruits

8.800 fruits from just one tree?!?! What can I say?
Please, remember me to buy at least a few fruits from you when the season begins again!!!

[FlyingFoxFruits]

photos showing:

the original type of cambuca introduced into the USA (takes over 15yrs to fruit) has slender leaves, and whitish green new growth (can have tints of red, but very faint if at all).







a recently collected seedling, showing new growth with slight reddish tint, also the shape and arrangement of foliage is different.  (the leaves are not as pendulous as the original variety).







seedlings planted last year, of a precocious variety, showing the same shape as the recently collected seedlings, and also showing reddish new growth.








I have planted many seedlings from the original tree, and they have never come up looking different (like the new variety that is reported to be more precocious)....and I've got seedlings from at least 3 bearing trees in the USA at 3 separate locations!

[shah8]

My tree has never had that deep green leathery look to it.

while looking at pictures on the internet, it's pretty amazing to me just how much M. vexator looks like cambuca, more so than something like glomerata...

[huertasurbanas]

Cassio, how would you describe its flavour? similar to what?

[Cassio]

Cassio, how would you describe its flavour? similar to what?

Marcos, the flavor isn´t similar to nothing that I remember, is hard to describe... But is very good. Sadly I proved just four of them.
When mature it's sweet, but with a slight sour. The pulp is gelatinous (little available) and the the bark is thick.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

To me  it taste something like a mango, peach, jaboticaba , with texture of persimmon

What do you think Cassio (and others who've tasted this rare fruit)?

Is my description somewhat accurate?

Cassio, how would you describe its flavour? similar to what?

Marcos, the flavor isn´t similar to nothing that I remember, is hard to describe... But is very good. Sadly I proved just four of them.
When mature it's sweet, but with a slight sour. The pulp is gelatinous (little available) and the the bark is thick.

[fruitlovers]

To me  it taste something like a mango, peach, jaboticaba , with texture of persimmon

What do you think Cassio (and others who've tasted this rare fruit)?

Is my description somewhat accurate?

Cassio, how would you describe its flavour? similar to what?

Marcos, the flavor isn´t similar to nothing that I remember, is hard to describe... But is very good. Sadly I proved just four of them.
When mature it's sweet, but with a slight sour. The pulp is gelatinous (little available) and the the bark is thick.

It's kind of hard to describe because it doesn't really taste like any other fruit. It has a peach like texture, but is more gelatinous texture, and a bit more tart than a peach. The taste is a lot more subtle and delicate than a peach. BTW i read that if you add potassium fertilizer the fruits will be a lot sweeter.

[ben mango]

nice trees. I've tasted them a few times. flavor is like an orange with no acidity, maybe with some hints of peach, papaya or mango. its a very tasty fruit. seed to flesh ratio must be smaller than that of jaboticaba. I have seen trees go unpicked before and even though they were right next to the road no one was interested in buying them

[Cassio]

To me  it taste something like a mango, peach, jaboticaba , with texture of persimmon
What do you think Cassio (and others who've tasted this rare fruit)?
Is my description somewhat accurate?

It's kind of hard to describe because it doesn't really taste like any other fruit. It has a peach like texture, but is more gelatinous texture, and a bit more tart than a peach. The taste is a lot more subtle and delicate than a peach.

Adam, your description, combined with the one made by Oscar, I think is pretty close.
Except by the mango, which I don´t recognized in the "mix".

Ben, I think the color of the flesh remembers papaya, but I can´t recognize the flavour of this fruit in the "mix".

[Cassio]

Almost forgot... I have another tree in a container, with 1,20~1,70 m tall, which I bought in march as a cambucá, but I´m unsure about the identification cause the leafs form and the general aspect of the tree. I´ll post photos later and hopefully you can help me to identify her correctly.

Here are the photos of the seedling I was talking. The seller insists it is a cambucá, but I´m unsure... Look to the leaves: they are undulated, and new ones are a tad redish. The bark is falling off, and I can see the green and red colors underneath. Ideas?

Edited 07/07/2015 - Already figured what this is. It´s the Eugenia Condolleana.

[shah8]

That's the way mine looks (when it was smaller), and the way I remember Frankie's cambucas back in '01.

Honestly, I think aside from vexator, cambuca is relatively easy to tell.  Vexator leaves droop a lot more.  P. rivalris has a different leaf shape.

[fruitlovers]

Cassio, those leaves don't look anything like cambuca. Compare to photos that Adam already posted, which really are cambuca. Maybe what you have is some type of eugenia?

[FlyingFoxFruits]

yes Oscar, Cassio has a pic of Eugenia candolleana

[fruitlovers]

yes Oscar, Cassio has a pic of Eugenia candolleana

Candolleana is also what came to my mind, but wasn't 100% positive.

[shah8]

fascinating...looks like I don't have any grasp of knowing how to grasp the differences between species.

When I look up Eugenia candolleana online, the leaves look a lot more like psidium cattleiianum combined with suriname cherry.

How did you guys identify it so readily as Eugenia?  When I looked again, now, I went with, older leaves at bottom are more ovate rather than linear; trunk too green.

[Cassio]

E. Condolleana... exactly what I was thinking it could be! Well, at least I´m learning fast with you all.
Thank you my friends.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

fascinating...looks like I don't have any grasp of knowing how to grasp the differences between species.

When I look up Eugenia candolleana online, the leaves look a lot more like psidium cattleiianum combined with suriname cherry.

How did you guys identify it so readily as Eugenia?  When I looked again, now, I went with, older leaves at bottom are more ovate rather than linear; trunk too green.

http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=15638.0

[fruiteater]

The original strain of Cambuca (Plinia edulis) introduced in continental USA, as well as in Hawaii and Australia came from a same source: a very productive tree from Antonio Morschbacker's uncle farm, which is planted besides a stream. It can bears large fruits, from 5 to 7 cm. This first introduction period happened in the early 1990s (so, more than 20 years ago), and are partially reported in Antonio's original article in Rare Fruit News (reproduced in Fruitpedia website):
External Links:
    The Cambuca: The Myrtaceae in Its Best - by Antonio Morschbacker
    http://www.fruitipedia.com/cambuca%20Plinia%20edulis.htm
Antonio was a good friend of the late Bill Whitman (Florida), of Frankie Sekyia (Hawaii) and of Hans Mueller (Australia). These three gentlemen raised and distributed Antonio's seedlings in America and Australia.
Recent imports, as far as I know, came from São Paulo and Santa Catarina States, mainly.

[fruiteater]

Besides Morschbacker's article, there is another report on the 1990s introduction of Cambucá in USA. It was plublished as a chapter of Bill Whitman's book "Five Decades with Tropical Fruits" pages 322-329, as a reprint of an original article published in Tropical Fruit News, August 1996. Bill and Frankie visited Brazil in early 1996. There goes a short quote from Antonio's original Cambucá tree in the book: "That afternoon we drove out into the cane fields to the end of a narrow dirt road, seeking samples of the cambucá (Marliera edulis). Antonio considers this one of Brazil's better indigenous fruits. Leaving the road which came to a dead end, we continued on a footpath adjacent to a small stream until we came upon a thirty-five-foot tree with yellow-orange fruit. Frank Sekyia, being the most agile of us, climbed about ten feet up into the branches and with a long, long bamboo pole knocked a number of the golf-ball-sized fruit down, some of which rolled into the stream bellow." That place lies in Northern Rio de Janeiro State, more precisely in the town of Conceição de Macabu: https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concei%C3%A7%C3%A3o_de_Macabu

[Miguel.pt]

The original strain of Cambuca (Plinia edulis) introduced in continental USA, as well as in Hawaii and Australia came from a same source: a very productive tree from Antonio Morschbacker's uncle farm, which is planted besides a stream. It can bears large fruits, from 5 to 7 cm. This first introduction period happened in the early 1990s (so, more than 20 years ago), and are partially reported in Antonio's original article in Rare Fruit News (reproduced in Fruitpedia website):
External Links:
    The Cambuca: The Myrtaceae in Its Best - by Antonio Morschbacker
    http://www.fruitipedia.com/cambuca%20Plinia%20edulis.htm
Antonio was a good friend of the late Bill Whitman (Florida), of Frankie Sekyia (Hawaii) and of Hans Mueller (Australia). These three gentlemen raised and distributed Antonio's seedlings in America and Australia.
Recent imports, as far as I know, came from São Paulo and Santa Catarina States, mainly.

Is it just me reading it all wrong or that article is mixing Cambucá and Cambuci ?... big confusion there!

[fruitlovers]

The original strain of Cambuca (Plinia edulis) introduced in continental USA, as well as in Hawaii and Australia came from a same source: a very productive tree from Antonio Morschbacker's uncle farm, which is planted besides a stream. It can bears large fruits, from 5 to 7 cm. This first introduction period happened in the early 1990s (so, more than 20 years ago), and are partially reported in Antonio's original article in Rare Fruit News (reproduced in Fruitpedia website):
External Links:
    The Cambuca: The Myrtaceae in Its Best - by Antonio Morschbacker
    http://www.fruitipedia.com/cambuca%20Plinia%20edulis.htm
Antonio was a good friend of the late Bill Whitman (Florida), of Frankie Sekyia (Hawaii) and of Hans Mueller (Australia). These three gentlemen raised and distributed Antonio's seedlings in America and Australia.
Recent imports, as far as I know, came from São Paulo and Santa Catarina States, mainly.

Yes Antonio told me similar story in person. The cambucas i have are from Frankies who originally got them from Antonio.