You can't taste the fruit? That would make it a lot easier to identify.

Can't add much to the list already mentioned apart from some African species, but they will be difficult to get a seed source from.

I don't know how mamey-sapotes do with salt spray.  [In Belize some sapodillas grow in the sea.] 

In Yucatán, mamey-sapotes withstand prolonged dry seasons annually, on shallow clay soils over limestone rocks, with the water table probably well over 50 feet down in most places.  I don't know what the air humidity levels run there.  We were not discussing desert plants.

Recently we have had several drought years here in south Florida, with little rain from November thru June.  My sandy yard is 27 feet above the water table.  I don't have an irrigation system, and sporadically water plants that look stressed.   Many plants and trees have died in my yard, but all the ones I listed (except for mamey-sapote and carissa, which I observed elswhere) are doing just fine, some with no rain or irrigation for two months.

I did not list soursop, which has needed frequent extra waterings.  I also did not list Rollinia deliciosa (mucosa) which do not survive for me unless grafted on drought- hardy rootsock.  Sugar-apples just barely hold on.

Har - I noticed you listed Annona purpurea. My A. squamosa and A. muricata does better than my A. purpurea which drops all the leaves and kinda dries up a bit during the dry seasons.

Hi good people am from Kenya and for along time now have been planning to start a tree planting project in my home area.I come from a semi arid area where the soil is infertile and rain patterns erratic.The plan initially was just to plant any tree but i was fortunate enough to meet some people who were more knowledgeable in this field and they advised that i plant fruiting and medicinal trees since this will be a major source of income to the residents.There are no productive crops planted my them at the moment and most homes here are struggling to make ends meet.

I intend to donate seedlings to homes and also encourage them to buy there own and take the initiative of caring for the trees but the biggest dilemma is that i have no idea on the best trees to plant,the best way to plant them and the best way to care for them.

Any advise?

Hi Victor, welcome to the forum - I am staying next door in Uganda (Kampala) - where precisely are you located in Kenya? I know many areas gets less than 750mm precipitation per year especially the northern parts, so you would need to select the species carefully as irrigation in my experience would not be feasible for the rural communities.
 
I can also recommend "A selection of useful trees and shrubs for Kenya: Notes on their identification, propagation and management for use by farming and pastoral communities. 1992, ICRAF".

Billeder tak 

Oscar, I have had some luck with cuttings - and that is without a rooting hormone, but at other times it did not work out at all. Shade, temperature, soilmix, time of year etc. all could to be factors which influence the success, and which I have not managed yet. A friend of mine cut off to big branches from a tree I gave him years back and managed to root both just by placing them in the soil during the rainy season...

Adam: Forgot to mention, the pulp is not firm when ripe, but with a fine taste. Bears heavily on a small tree. Future, I can mail seeds if you need this variety in your collection.

Thanks Steven - it was back in 2009. Very much different in appearances from Noel's picture first under this topic. Not only by the length of the protrusions, but also the number and size of the sections - as they are being related to the seeds I assume mine fruit has smaller but more seeds than Noels.

Hi Felipe,
No, several of the trees have been flowering for the third season now, previously with no fruits (which I know is fairly common). Do expect some this year though and will post pictures when it happens.

Can subscribe to the comments of Adam and Oscar; thanks a lot for the interesting information and surely there will be many with an interests in cultivating some of these rare and promising hybrids.! Are you still growing any of them yourself?

Hi Oscar, I did - but the rainy season has not started yet - it looked good in the beginning of the month but for a couple of weeks; no rain. April is the most rainy month, so it should have started - can't be long now!

One of the big problems with in situ collections are the lack of gene diversity - trees take up space, so many collections are forced to either have just a few samples of several species which will not be representative of the total gene pool, or concentrate on a single or few species but then have a broader gene pool. Here in Entebbe Botanical Gardens, they have tried to secure the gene diversity of Garcinia buchananii by collecting seeds from the different forest resources around the country - I think their collection is at 12 trees or so (possibly not more than 2 trees from each sub-population), which is on the low side.