The truth is that australia is also a lychee backwater and of 25 or so types the top would be fai zee sui,souey tung,salathiel,then no mai chee,kaimana and maybe tai so maurtius.The kwai mais,haak yips and brewsters would be in a mediocre group.We should have erdon lee everywhere,A4,donguan seedless,maguilli and others but we don't.
The name custard apple apple for atemoya is so entrenched it can't change.Paw paws for papayas is the same.I think it is the original jamaican name that was tranferred to asimina before' papaya.' became the word of the US.I could be wrong.
Marketers tried to call reds papaya and yellows paw paw but it didn't stick.
I think the US,latin america,australia and india are all way behind thailand with mangoes and there are different flavours that are appealing in each area.Colour is less important in SE Asia and australia than other places and the hydrocarbon overtones of some make them unacceptable.

The word on the street and loose talk talk in fruit enthusiast circles suggests that are are no good atemoyas in the US, the lychees are second rate,there are no decent passionfruit and locally bred mangoes are pretty ordinary.I would never believe such crazy talk but some who should know better have that misconception.

About 17 yeatrs ago I worked in a building surrounded by a govt tropical fruit research orchard that had been operational for about 100 years and was suddenly left for budget reasons.Scientists would collect the best fruit from around the world,trial them and release them to farmers.There were dozens of rambutan types left behind and 6 or 7 very good pulasans/meritams including one that looked like the type in the picture.A giant purple one was extraordinary and a huge green one was also outstanding.When the local council acquired the property trees were dozed to stop urban foragers from hurdling the fence and these and many other fruit were lost before ever being released.I never have seen pulasan as good as that again.   

Mafai are in fact highly variable in quality and tolerance to cold.Some good quality types grow in NE Thailand were temps approach 0c in winter.I had great one that were pionkl and white one in sisaket and isaan.Rambais are a bit more tropical and a bit larger and sweeter than mafai on average but the best of both are about the same size and standard. Both grow well around my home town.

The initial fai zee sui fruited pretty well at 16.8 latitude in a moderated coastal trade wind littoral climate with 2000mm and has temp. needs like mauritius.They grew at a research station surrounded by durians,mangosteens and duku.

The smell is strongest in the skin and a few weeks ago at work people got upset t me for having durian in the lunchroom and it was likle a gasleak.Some chempadek and marang are almost as fragrant,that is true.

I hope the pictures of erdon lee and A4 giant seedless guanzhou turn out ok.I am not usually one to poke sticks into hornets nests but the list raises more questions than it answers.The most popular on the list is probably the best of that lot but something seems to be missing.If fai zee siu isn't in Florida yet it is a shame because it is the next great leap forward in many ways.The two below are the leap after that.Lychee lovers should be demanding these of suppliers because they are rocking the lychee world.

It happened in my district last october when mangoes were still small.The normally driest month had a 2 day event with 18 inches of rain and much of the crop was ruined.In March my place had 55 inches of which nearly 30 fell in one week.There seems to be problematic weather all over.Good luck with the fruit and any anthracnose that may follow.

fruitlovers I have only had samples of them and D.testud...? and I prefer to sink my teeth into slabs of flesh rather than rake my teeth over seeds for scant flesh.Each has their own character but still are not on par with zibethinus.

I think durio graveolans x zinethinus and D.macrantha are the only ones besides zibethinus that warrant more than a sideways glance.There are around 30 zibethinus varieties around here and I have 5 adolescent trees of different types.

No BJ but I have heard about it.The tablelands folk seem to have some good selections and you are right about rainfall.In the 2000mm to 4000mm zone there are fewer good mangoes,anthracnose everywhere and KP 's don't tate as good.I should be packing parcels right now or gardening.I told David I'd send some sam ru du seedlings.

Full sun seems to promote the largest crops with jaboticabas but it is surprising how productive some are in the shade. They also have more crops per year when in full sun.

There is a large asian community but they are not the growers of durians and other tropical fruits most of the time.Darwin is a similar latitude to Bangkok and has a seasonal monsoon climate and the town gets about 1500mm/yr.Where I am sitting right now gets about 2600mm/yr and ther is rainforest behind my place.There is no doubt the asian and multicultural flavour has influenced foods and fruits grown.