The Tropical Fruit Forum
Tropical Fruit => Tropical Fruit Discussion => Topic started by: fruitlovers on August 05, 2019, 06:02:36 AM
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Got to taste the Ndea fruit today, a fruit originally from Africa, and a new fruit to Hawaii. The seeds were originally distributed through CRFG, and came originally from Roy Danforth and Paul Noren's project in the Congo There were 2 fruits distributed by them with the name Ndea, this one and also Sarcocephalus xanthoxylon, also called Nauclea xanthoxylon. The latifolius is from dryland areas and is much better tasting. The xanthoxylon is from wet swampy areas and does not have much taste.
The fruit I just got to taste was a lot bigger fruit than i expected, a little bigger than a baseball. It has a very attractive ruby red color inside. The taste is mildly sweet with a crunchy texture. There is also a very mild bitterness, and some background herbal taste. Some think it tastes and smells like strawberry, but i did not find that to be the case. It has a nice complicated taste but generally mild tasting and not very juicy. I tasted it both with skin and without the skin. I think it was better to eat it with skin and all, it added to the complexity of the taste. According to the person i got it from the difficulty in growing this fruit is that it does not usually ripen well in our rainy area. This is the first year he was able to get well ripened fruits. So i think this fruit is more suited for drier areas like Kona, or on our east side better along the seashore where rainfall is a lot lighter. The tree this fruit came from is located in Puna at about 950 feet where it is quite rainy year round. It is a low growing tree but quite wide, umbrella shaped. The flowers are attractive also. It flowers several times a year. I will try to add this to my seed offerings soon. The seeds are very tiny, much smaller than the seeds of a strawberry.
(https://i.postimg.cc/F1SHPG46/P1090113.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/F1SHPG46)
(https://i.postimg.cc/Sn14Qz48/P1090115.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/Sn14Qz48)
(https://i.postimg.cc/dD9VP3hR/P1090117.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/dD9VP3hR)
(https://i.postimg.cc/hz1cBZt4/P1090120.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/hz1cBZt4)
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That color! off the chart.Bill Whitman had a pale fruited one,must have been the swampy one.
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Congrats Oscar!
What a great presentation.
Peter
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That color! off the chart.Bill Whitman had a pale fruited one,must have been the swampy one.
Yes the one with pale colored fruit is Nauclea xanthophylum. That one fruited in Hawaii many years ago, but the taste is very bland, disappointing, more of an ornamental than an edible.
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Congrats Oscar!
What a great presentation.
Peter
Thanks, but not from my tree. I kind of gave up on Ndea when i heard how bland they were, but that was a different species. Two different species, very different from each other being called Ndea.
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Thanks for posting, Oscar. This one certainly even looks more enticing than xanthoxylon. Do you know if the grower has more than one tree? I had talked to a couple of people here with xanthoxylon who have single trees that have never borne so it was raising the question of dioecy or the need to cross pollinate.
If you are trying to start any from seeds, I recall that xanthoxylon is extremely prone to damping off so you should be prepared to treat for this quickly if it shows up in its cousin.
John
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifI9Lvtg7cY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifI9Lvtg7cY)
Another look at this fruit probably from the same source
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Thanks for posting, Oscar. This one certainly even looks more enticing than xanthoxylon. Do you know if the grower has more than one tree? I had talked to a couple of people here with xanthoxylon who have single trees that have never borne so it was raising the question of dioecy or the need to cross pollinate.
If you are trying to start any from seeds, I recall that xanthoxylon is extremely prone to damping off so you should be prepared to treat for this quickly if it shows up in its cousin.
John
He has several trees but they may be in different locations. I heard xanthoxylon is dioecious, but not sure about this species latifolius whether you need more than one tree. Will try to find out.
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Found out this species is not dioecious. There is a lone tree here fruiting. But the fruits are smaller than normal and they are seedless, so cross pollination is advised.
Here are some more photos from a fellow fruit lover. This tree is 2 years old and already starting to flower. The flowers attract bees and have a nice fragrance.
(https://i.postimg.cc/Jyf65TzQ/Ndea-tree-Sarcocephalus-latifolius.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/Jyf65TzQ)
(https://i.postimg.cc/jLqbfj9S/Ndea-flower-Sarcocephalus-latifolus.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/jLqbfj9S)
(https://i.postimg.cc/H8pfbS6h/Ndea-fruit-Sarcocephalus-latifolius.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/H8pfbS6h)
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Flower is beautiful on this tree. Will be very hard for you to clean and ship those tiny seeds.