Oscar, I disagree.
English has a significant number of words derived from Latin/Romance languages (and Greek).

Check the reference below.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_influence_in_English>

It took me a while to recall one fruit that I can eat but that I have to force myself to do it.

Kei Apple - Dovyalis caffra They look nice and smell nice. But they are very tart and have some after taste that I detest, like I have just eaten some kind of weed.

I believe I found the pdf Steve mentioned:

http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-08072009-130342/unrestricted/dissertation.pdf

The problem with marula in non tropical climates is that they are quite tender to frost.
A few hours of -2C / 28F will kill thick branches (5cm / 2 in) to the ground.

Other than that, they love heat and will very fast if properly fertilized. I am hoping my
second tree will bloom this spring (and be a female).

ilama (Anona diversifolia) ?
cambucá (Plinia edulis) ?
monkey orange (Strychnos spinosa)?


(It would be nice if you could include the rest of the world subtropics...)

I have achachairu, green sapote and monkey orange growing outside  for a while now.
They are slow but sure can handle a bit of cold...

Hi Gwen,

Malta is part of the European Union,
so the rules should be about the same as for the rest of the block.
And for seeds there are none of particular importance, and no permits are needed.

Just make sure the seeds are really well cleaned, and let them dry overnight.
(Fruit flesh gets moldy and spoils the seeds.)

I've received many seeds from Puerto Rico. Biggest concern is to have them packed properly so they
can make it in viable condition. For Portugal it takes around 8 to 10 days for a packet to arrive,
which is not an issue. It should be about the same for Malta. Only Italy has a notoriously tardy postal system.

Regarding packing, if the seeds are perishable pack them in peat moss or coconut coir.
Make sure the medium is just a little damp. Often seeds rot due to excessive moisture.
Do squeeze all the water from the peat/coir. It will feel dry but thats what you want.
It also helps to puncture the bag a few times to allow the seeds to breathe.

I have difficulty selecting an absolute top 5 fruits.

My problem is that ANY delicious fruit eaten too often, eventually loses its appeal.

I often have these WOW moments from simple things like a really good pear, plum or orange.
Top notch temperate/common fruits can all be very delicious, except they are not exotic or rare in my/our minds.
Basically, we take them for granted.

Having said that, these fruits rate high in my list because
they can be very good, and most they are not easy to come by, here:

1. Mangosteen
2. LongKong
3. Durian
4. sugar apples (love them)
5. lychees

Will be happy to taste any of the rest....with two notable exceptions.......I'll pass on the below species just based on genereal principles.

8.Mangifera camptosperma
9.Mangifera campnospermoides

Harry

Just means Mangifera bent-seed... and Mangifera similar to M. camptosperma...

It's not like we're talking about Castanospermum australe (Moreton Bay Chestnut or Blackbean), which poisonous, is it? 

"Jaboticabal" means orchard of jabuticabeiras...

Continuing with the Portuguese lesson, 

Adding the "-al" ending to the fruit name (or, in some cases the fruit trees) denotes an orchard/collection of that particular species.  This usage is, however, somewhat limited. In the other cases, we use the generic term "pomar" as in orchard.

Hi Noel,

In Portuguese, the name of the fruit tree is usually derived from the name of fruit by
adding the suffix "-eira" (often by also removing the trailing vowel, with some exceptions).

Its like in English when "tree" follows the fruit name, as in "apple tree", or in Spanish using the suffix "-era"

Some examples:

jabuticaba -> jabuticabeira
laranja ->laranjeira (orange)
banana -> bananeira
ameixa -> ameixeira (plum)
anona -> anoneira (cherimoya)
manga -> mangueira (mango), incidentally "mangueira" is also the portuguese word for "hose" so it kind of sounds funny. And, since, "manga" also means "sleeve", a literal translation might come out as "Hose that bears sleeves". 

As for fruit names with tilde (~), the rule is similar but the vowel with the tilde is replaced.
limão -> limoeiro (lemon)
mamão -> mamoeiro (papaya)
maçã -> macieira (apple)