Visit to Jim West's Place in Ecuador

[fruitlovers]

Oscar, there was some discussion in the past about g. Magnifolia and the fact that it was unusual for an American garcinia to be diocious.  Also, when Harry was here he remarked that in his experience g. Magnifolia was not such a great fruit.  As we have noted, there is confusion in this genus.  Have you learned anything new about this species, and what is your impression of the fruit, would it sell well at a farmers' market?
Thanks,
Peter

Hi Peter.  I did not mean to say that the fruit did not taste good.  The flavor is good.  The problem, as with many of its relatives, is scant edible flesh and large seed content.  That has been my experience anyway. As far as sales in a Farmer's market setting, I would think they may sell but would not bring a premium price. They would be considered more of an oddity than a good food source.  Maybe there is a better edible pulp to seed ratio out there somewhere waiting to be discovered.  The plant does very well for me as far as hardiness, disease resistance and growth rate.  Best regards......

Not so sure about that Harry. Look at the achachairu. Also has good flavor and bad seed to pulp ratio. And it seems a very succesfully selling fruit in Australia.

[HMHausman]

Yes, Oscar, I would agree if Magnifolia had as much flesh as the achacha has.  There was even less flesh to seed ratio in the magnifolia that I have had.  Basically big beautiful leaves.....almost no flesh to enjoy inside the fruits. The flesh quantity available in achacha is not optimum, but it is considerably more than the magnifolia I have encountered.

[fruitlovers]

Yes, Oscar, I would agree if Magnifolia had as much flesh as the achacha has.  There was even less flesh to seed ratio in the magnifolia that I have had.  Basically big beautiful leaves.....almost no flesh to enjoy inside the fruits. The flesh quantity available in achacha is not optimum, but it is considerably more than the magnifolia I have encountered.

As i vaguely recall, magnifolia amount of pulp was not much worse than achachairu, because the achachairu has a much bigger seed than magnifolia. I posted this photo of magnifolia fruit before in this same thread. Unfortunately didn't get crossection there. Might have a crossection shot somewhere else.

Anyway, as you know size of fruit is going to depend a lot on soil, climate, etc. So fruits in CR may come out a lot larger than what you grew in FL. I would say for Peter to grow a couple of trees, try it out, and if he thinks it worthy plant more in the future.

[Finca La Isla]

I appreciate the comments.  I wonder if Jim's magnifolia is pretty much the same as Harry's.  From Jim's visit here I only established one tree which still hasn't produced.  I have about 5 younger trees coming along as well as groups of prainiana, parvafolia, and other garcinias that I have high hopes for.  I also have a couple of  Luc's garcinias which are slower for me than the aforementioned species.
Thanks again,
Peter

[HMHausman]

Anyway, as you know size of fruit is going to depend a lot on soil, climate, etc. So fruits in CR may come out a lot larger than what you grew in FL. I would say for Peter to grow a couple of trees, try it out, and if he thinks it worthy plant more in the future.

Of course this is correct.  I actually haven't fruited any here in Florida by the way.  The ones I have had have all been from Puerto Rico.  And from my recollection, the seeds in magnifolia were proportionately larger than the seeds in the achachairu that were available in Puerto Rico. I'm still waiting for something (other than g. intermedia and livingstonei) to fruit here in my yard to be able to compare Florida production to anywhere else.

Thanks for re-posting the picture, Oscar.  The fruits of magnifolia I encountered had more of a rounded shape and less of a pear shape from my recollection.  I wonder how much variability there is in this species.  Or, are we definitely both talking about magnifolia?

[Finca La Isla]

Hi Harry
Yeah, I'm wondering if the magnifolia at Jim's and in PR are the same, especially if the fruit shape is different.  Do you know where the Puerto Rico ones came from, and if they are dioecious?
Thanks,
Peter

[fruitlovers]

Anyway, as you know size of fruit is going to depend a lot on soil, climate, etc. So fruits in CR may come out a lot larger than what you grew in FL. I would say for Peter to grow a couple of trees, try it out, and if he thinks it worthy plant more in the future.

Of course this is correct.  I actually haven't fruited any here in Florida by the way.  The ones I have had have all been from Puerto Rico.  And from my recollection, the seeds in magnifolia were proportionately larger than the seeds in the achachairu that were available in Puerto Rico. I'm still waiting for something (other than g. intermedia and livingstonei) to fruit here in my yard to be able to compare Florida production to anywhere else.

Thanks for re-posting the picture, Oscar.  The fruits of magnifolia I encountered had more of a rounded shape and less of a pear shape from my recollection.  I wonder how much variability there is in this species.  Or, are we definitely both talking about magnifolia?

If the fruit shape was round then it was probably macrophylla, not magnifolia. Both have very large leaves and so easily confused, as both start with an M, and end with an A.    The macrophylla is not dioecious. And yes it has very little pulp, and is not as good tasting, or as large. as magnifolia. If you go to beginning of this thread you can see a photo of macrophylla i posted.

[RICBITAR]

Hi Harry
Yeah, I'm wondering if the magnifolia at Jim's and in PR are the same, especially if the fruit shape is different.  Do you know where the Puerto Rico ones came from, and if they are dioecious?
Thanks,
Peter

There is something to be commented on Garcinia magnifolia, is dioecious,
I received seeds from two different places in different months:
- from the first place, the leaves are all same
- from the second place, 70% of the seedling have leaves identical of the first place, but 30%  of the other seedling the leaves are different,
 I think because they are dioecious, may have hybridized with other species of Garcinia,
The probability of hybridization is big, because who send the seeds to me , had others Garcinia with fruit in the same time of G. magnifolia

[EvilFruit]

Garcinia magnifolia is one of toughest Garcinia I have ever had. I treated mine really badly and it's still alive.

[Soren]

Hi Harry
Yeah, I'm wondering if the magnifolia at Jim's and in PR are the same, especially if the fruit shape is different.  Do you know where the Puerto Rico ones came from, and if they are dioecious?
Thanks,
Peter

There is something to be commented on Garcinia magnifolia, is dioecious,
I received seeds from two different places in different months:
- from the first place, the leaves are all same
- from the second place, 70% of the seedling have leaves identical of the first place, but 30%  of the other seedling the leaves are different,
 I think because they are dioecious, may have hybridized with other species of Garcinia,
The probability of hybridization is big, because who send the seeds to me , had others Garcinia with fruit in the same time of G. magnifolia

I believe Garcinia spp. are prone to misidentifications due to very similar characteristics across species. Not sure how easy they hybridize.

[Cassio]

I´m curious...
Found information about "Mexican Achachairu" here: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=pt&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=pt-BR&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.e-jardim.com%2Fproduto_completo.asp%3FIDProduto%3D361&edit-text=

Is that fruit the same as Luc´s Garcinia?
Ouch... found the answer for myself... You can forget my question. Can an admin delete this post, please?

[Luisport]

I´m curious...
Found information about "Mexican Achachairu" here: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=pt&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=pt-BR&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.e-jardim.com%2Fproduto_completo.asp%3FIDProduto%3D361&edit-text=

Is that fruit the same as Luc´s Garcinia?
Ouch... found the answer for myself... You can forget my question. Can an admin delete this post, please?

Yes it's the same. 

[fruitlovers]

I´m curious...
Found information about "Mexican Achachairu" here: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=pt&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=pt-BR&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.e-jardim.com%2Fproduto_completo.asp%3FIDProduto%3D361&edit-text=

Is that fruit the same as Luc´s Garcinia?
Ouch... found the answer for myself... You can forget my question. Can an admin delete this post, please?

You can delete it yourself by hitting button 'modify', and then just writing the word edited, or erased, or anything else.

[geosulcata]

This is an old post, but for those that end up visiting Ecuador - When we lived there, the Sunday market in Puyo had a great assortment of tropical fruits from the jungle (along with other interesting items).

[KarenRei]

Some of the ones i got to taste for first time at Jim's place:
1) Matisia sp. from San Lorenzo. This is a bizarre type of Matisia that is cauliflorous--fruits right on trunk. Fruit was  very tasty, similar to cordatata (Chupa chupa), but was somewhat fibrous.
2)Matisia mestonii, which he now has reidentified as Matisia giacomettoi. This one had a nice taste, but much smaller than a Chupa chupa.
3)Matisia soegengii (previously called M. obiquifolia) is also smaller but not nearly as good tasting as the glacomettoi.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread!  But according to the Guaycuyacu seed list, Jim offers two Matisias:

Matisia soegengii   SL sapote   CH   cauliflorous tree with flowers and fruits down to ground level. 8cm fruits with sweet scant fibrous pulp.
Matisia giacomettoi   sapote del monte   RG   6-8 cm yellow fruits similar to Q. cordata

So according to the Guaycuyacu site, M. soegengii is "Matisia sp. from San Lorenzo", the bizarre cauliflorous one.  Is your #3 perchance a Matisia that's not for sale, and different from M. soegengii?  Or has Jim misapplied the scientific name M. soegengii to the wrong tree?

[fruitlovers]

Some of the ones i got to taste for first time at Jim's place:
1) Matisia sp. from San Lorenzo. This is a bizarre type of Matisia that is cauliflorous--fruits right on trunk. Fruit was  very tasty, similar to cordatata (Chupa chupa), but was somewhat fibrous.
2)Matisia mestonii, which he now has reidentified as Matisia giacomettoi. This one had a nice taste, but much smaller than a Chupa chupa.
3)Matisia soegengii (previously called M. obiquifolia) is also smaller but not nearly as good tasting as the glacomettoi.

I think you just caught a mistake i made when i posted this 4 years ago. Yes the San Lorenzo matisia is what Jim is now calling M. soegengii.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread!  But according to the Guaycuyacu seed list, Jim offers two Matisias:

Matisia soegengii   SL sapote   CH   cauliflorous tree with flowers and fruits down to ground level. 8cm fruits with sweet scant fibrous pulp.
Matisia giacomettoi   sapote del monte   RG   6-8 cm yellow fruits similar to Q. cordata

So according to the Guaycuyacu site, M. soegengii is "Matisia sp. from San Lorenzo", the bizarre cauliflorous one.  Is your #3 perchance a Matisia that's not for sale, and different from M. soegengii?  Or has Jim misapplied the scientific name M. soegengii to the wrong tree?

[KarenRei]

I think you just caught a mistake i made when i posted this 4 years ago. Yes the San Lorenzo matisia is what Jim is now calling M. soegengii.

Okay, thanks for the correction!  There's not many people who have ever sampled this fruit