Florida's Forgotten Rare Fruits

[Galatians522]

Sometimes we can get so interested in exotic rare fruits that we forget about the rare fruits that we have right here at home. So, I'm going to start this by talking about the wild Flatwoods Plums (Prunus umbellata) that are ripening now in Highlands County. These are one of three native plum species I have found here. The others are Chickisaw and Scrub Plum (which have all ripened by now and are gone). The tree typically grows with a single trunk and the fruits are not very bothered by Curculio or brown rot. The trees are also very long lived if they don't get shaded out. I believe one of the trees in this wild grove to be close to 100 years old!



If you grow Scarlet Beauty plum, you may notice how similar they look. I am pretty sure that this is the Plum species that Ronald Lambert of Wauchula used in breeding Scarlet Beauty. I have seen these Flatwoods Plums put out full bloom with <40 hrs of chill (I have a hunch that they will go even lower than that). Scientists think that the really southern Flatwoods Plums got some of their adaptability from natural hybridization with Scrub Plum. The fruits are very similar to Cranberries in taste. So, they aren't good fresh, but they make a great substitute for cranberry or roselle jelly. I may even try to make some sauce for thanksgiving or fruit leather if I get enough. Finally, they make a great long lived rootstock for plums such as Scarlet Beauty (the peach type rootstock recommended for Florida has not been long lived in my experience).

[shot]

That is so cool!
Have any seed i can put in the fridge to stratify ?I love stuff like this lost in time in old groves

[elouicious]

love this topic!

thanks for the cool info

[Galatians522]

That is so cool!
Have any seed i can put in the fridge to stratify ?I love stuff like this lost in time in old groves

I have about a dozen seeds from that tree stratifying now and would be happy to send you some. The fruit development period varies quite a bit on these wild trees. Some of them take almost twice as long for the fruits to size up and ripen. Below is a picture of the tree next to the one I got the fruits from. It was taken on the same day, but its fruits are easily a month or more from being ripe. I don't think they bloomed anywhere near that far apart. Most of the trees were about half way between these two.

[Galatians522]

love this topic!

thanks for the cool info

Thanks! I'm under the weather at the moment, but if I get feeling better soon and can get some pictures, I plan to update this post with some other wild Florida fruits. Black cherries are loaded this year!

[DavidBYE]

Awesome! I have, what was sold to me as a Chickasaw plum but after 15 years it has produced no root sprouts. It is my understanding that these grow in thickets because of the sprouts. So, I am thinking it is a Flatwood or Hog plum. The trees have a spreading habit, shaped like an umbrella. Fruits go from green to yellow, orange, red then mature a deep burgundy. They are sour and about the size of a cherry. I rarely get to eat any, the critters love them. Does this sound like a Flatwood?

[Galatians522]

Awesome! I have, what was sold to me as a Chickasaw plum but after 15 years it has produced no root sprouts. It is my understanding that these grow in thickets because of the sprouts. So, I am thinking it is a Flatwood or Hog plum. The trees have a spreading habit, shaped like an umbrella. Fruits go from green to yellow, orange, red then mature a deep burgundy. They are sour and about the size of a cherry. I rarely get to eat any, the critters love them. Does this sound like a Flatwood?

Hey David, that does sound like a Flatwoods plum. A classic Flatwoods plum has burgundy fruit that is sour and bitter/astringent in my experience (most people would spit out raw), a single trunk, and late ripening fruit. A classic Chickisaw will be yellow/red and tangy but not bitter or astringent (most people would say it was ok raw), a suckering habit, and relatively early ripening fruit. The hard part about identifying native plums is that they hybridize so easily with any other native plum. So, you end up with all these muts that are crosses and backcrosses (sometimes with 3 or more species thrown in) between the classic species descriptions. If your tree was grown from seed, its possible that the fruit came from a tree that was part Chickisaw but got pollinated with Flatwoods pollen. So, the Flatwoods plum dominated the gene expression.

[roblack]

Agreed, great topic! I've been watching Kill Your Lawn, and am planning on taking out grass strip by strip, and planting FL natives. Some native fruit trees for the small critters can serve as part of my squirrel distraction system, and bring in more birds. Other than perhaps a few more exotic fruit trees, all new plants entering our yard will be natives.

[RS]

Thank you for sharing this! That flatwoods plum looks so much like Scarlet Beauty. Sure hope my Scarlet Beauty isn't on that short-lived rootstock, it's one of my favorite trees. Great to know it can be grafted onto flatwoods.

Looking forward to future posts, really appreciate how much you've shared over the years about Florida fruits, e.g. deerberry, sparkle/farkleberry, mayhaw, maypop, FL jujube, etc.

@roblack, great idea about a squirrel distraction system and planting more natives!

[DavidBYE]

Thanks Galatians522! I had my suspensions but it is defiantly astringent deep burgundy fruit with a single trunk and no suckers. Sounds like Flatwood.

[Galatians522]

Thank you for sharing this! That flatwoods plum looks so much like Scarlet Beauty. Sure hope my Scarlet Beauty isn't on that short-lived rootstock, it's one of my favorite trees. Great to know it can be grafted onto flatwoods.

Looking forward to future posts, really appreciate how much you've shared over the years about Florida fruits, e.g. deerberry, sparkle/farkleberry, mayhaw, maypop, FL jujube, etc.

@roblack, great idea about a squirrel distraction system and planting more natives!

RS, thank you for the kind words. I almost didn't start this post because I didn't think many people would be interested. I was definitely wrong! My guess is that your Scarlet Beauty is grafted to peach roots. Most nurseries use it because that is what UF recommends for stone fruit--probably because most of their research was done with peaches (which aren't typically compatible with flatwoods plum). The good news is that it will still live longer than a peach tree (which typically have about a 10 year life span in my part of the state). So, you have lots of time to get some plum seeds started and graft a replacement that could be very long lived indeed. Interestingly enough, USDA and UF have realized the need for a longer lived rootstock for peaches and have been using embryo rescue to create peach hybrids with flatwoods plums! MP-29 is one such rootstock hybrid that has genes from peaches and flatwoods plum (P. umbellata). It produces no fruit and has a high chill requirement ~750 hrs, but I may try it as an interstem to put peaches on flatwoods plum.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://hos.ifas.ufl.edu/media/hosifasufledu/stone-fruit/documents/varieties/mp-29-a-clonal-interspecific-hybrid-rootstock-for-peach.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjJhLyaxNiGAxWuZjABHd8SCtgQFnoECA4QAQ&usg=AOvVaw21_zr6-IIgNJBNtmByIob-

[Galatians522]

RS, one other thing. We rooted some Scarlet Beauty cuttings and it is growing fine on its own roots for 5 years now with better health than the tree on peach roots. You may be able to root and grow it on its own roots with no issue. Cuttings were a bit slow to root, so I may try some airlayers if I get a chance.

[RS]

RS, one other thing. We rooted some Scarlet Beauty cuttings and it is growing fine on its own roots for 5 years now with better health than the tree on peach roots. You may be able to root and grow it on its own roots with no issue. Cuttings were a bit slow to root, so I may try some airlayers if I get a chance.

This is great news, I'll try rooting cuttings thanks! This Scarlet Beauty has been ripening 1-3 plums per day since mid-May (perfect for daily consumption) and looks to have about another week left. It's so nice having the ripe fruit staggered out, instead of all at once.

The plastic clamshells you recommended and an aluminum can "alarm" system have kept away the squirrels/raccoons/possums

[Galatians522]

Up next on the list of Florida's Forgotten Rare Fruits is the Black Cherry (Prunus Serotina)--Florida's only edible native "cherry."



Over the years I had heard lots about the Capulin Cherry and really wanted to try it. All the while, a black cherry was growing in my neighbor's yard that I never even thought of sampling. I finally got around to trying them in the past couple years. They vary quite a bit from tree to tree in taste and ripening time. The better ones taste like the aftertaste from cherry coke without much sweetness--apparently that is one of the last memories in our society of a time when these cherries were made into syrups and drinks. Oddly enough, I had a great uncle once who always complained that cherry coke did not taste like cherry and went so far as to invent a "real cherry" flavored coke that he tried to sell to McDonalds.
They never bit. I guess he was ahead of his time. Bottom line, cherry coke tastes like black cherry, not sweet cherry or pie cherry.

[Galatians522]

The cherries which are about 3/8" in diameter start ripening in May and run through June here. The trees were absolutely loaded this year. Unfortunately, I managed to miss the main season and only caught the tail end (although I got samples all throughout from quite a few different trees). Last week I found one tree with quite a few cherries that I could reach from the ground. One tip about wild foraging is to watch what the animals eat. They had left this tree for last with good reason. The cherries were pretty astringent and did not have much of the black cherry coke flavor. Rats! I guess the early bird gets the good cherries. I did get enough to make a small batch of syrup--which actually turned out pretty good. To my disappointment, it tastes more like Elderberry/Blackberry with only a hint of the Black Cherry Coke taste. One other interesting thing I noticed is that some trees seem to ripen all the cherries on the stalk at one time while others ripen unevenly. I definitely need to keep an eye out for better quality trees. Finally, Black Cherry should make a good rootstock for Capulin and I have some seeds stratifying now to test that. Apparently, the University of Florida had some Black Cherry Capulin hybrids at one point (Capulin did not thrive under their tests in Florida). I suspect it was at least partly due to poor rootstock adaptation.

[Pokeweed]

Fascinating thread! Please continue when possible. D

[Galatians522]

Fascinating thread! Please continue when possible. D

Thanks Pokeweed!

One other thing that I forgot to mention was that Black Cherry syrup was the original cough medicine. Apparently, it was often made from inner bark. I made mine from the fruits due to concerns about the toxicity of the bark (which contains the same toxin and flavor as bitter almond). The black cherry kernels also taste strongly of almond extract. For those who are not familiar, bitter almonds are used to make almond extracts after detoxification. In either case, the syrup I made did work as cough syrup! I tested it earlier when I was sick and it seems to work slightly better thsn the  cough drops I had.

[Galatians522]

Wild Grape season has kicked off with the first Calusa grapes (vitis shuttleworthii) ripening this month. Anyone familiar with Tari's Burgundy can see that it takes a part of its ancestry from this wild grape.



Unlike the more common wild grapes found in Florida, Calusa grapes are bunch type grapes (not muscadines). One easy way to spot the difference is that Calusa grape leaves often have a downy surface that looks almost like a cobweb on the leaf when they are young. As they get older, this often gets rubbed off.



They naturally grow in some very swampy places and have amazing tollerence to flooding. They are one of the largest native grapes, but the clusters are small. In the picture below I put two green grapes from the store on a leaf at the back so you can see how close they are in size.



While they look a lot like red grapes from the store, they do not taste like them, having a fairly leathery (and only moderately sweet) pulp surounded by a burst of sour juice. In my opinion, the best use for them is juice. A pretty good juice can be made of them by stemming the grapes and following any recipe for concord grape juice (Calusa grapes are the southern cousin of the fox grape). The juice comes out red instead of purple and it will not have the "foxy" concord flavor. However, there is a slight musk that marks it as a definitively American grape juice. Its about as tart as cranberry juice. I like it.

[elouicious]

Congrats on 2k posts Galatians!

Thats some good looking juice

[Galatians522]

Congrats on 2k posts Galatians!

Thats some good looking juice

Thanks man! Time flies when you're having fun!

[fliptop]

Great thread! I've found fnps.org/plants useful when searching for Florida natives.

[RS]

In my opinion, the best use for them is juice. A pretty good juice can be made of them by stemming the grapes and following any recipe for concord grape juice (Calusa grapes are the southern cousin of the fox grape). The juice comes out red instead of purple and it will not have the "foxy" concord flavor. However, there is a slight musk that marks it as a definitively American grape juice. Its about as tart as cranberry juice. I like it.

Sounds like that juice could be excellent with miracle fruit.

Hadn't heard of this grape before, the FNPS info is a bit sparse for this one, https://www.fnps.org/plant/vitis-shuttleworthii. Thanks for posting such helpful details!

[Galatians522]

Fliptop,

Thanks for posting the link to fnps. Another one that I use is the Florida Plant Atlas. You can bring up herbarium specimens that are linked by county. It has helped me sort out some species before.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/&ved=2ahUKEwiRpZG9gpCHAxXeRjABHQhpCDUQFnoECAgQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1rHHGr0XeOMMQzRrXYVk5C

[Galatians522]

Sounds like that juice could be excellent with miracle fruit.

Hadn't heard of this grape before, the FNPS info is a bit sparse for this one, https://www.fnps.org/plant/vitis-shuttleworthii. Thanks for posting such helpful details!

I am sure the juice would be good with miracle fruit.

For many years, I thought that all the wild grapes I found were muscadines. Then I learned about the wild buch grapes. To my knowledge, Florida has more wild grape species than anywhere else in the world. Joseph Fennell (the historic Florida grape breeder listed 6-7 species). I have found 4 species and 1 sub-species (the pygmy Scrub Muscadine) that Fennell never talked about here in Highlands County. Our wild muscadines are the only one that gets mentioned much and they are by far the most common, but the wild bunch grapes have a lot of really interesting diversity. The easiest way to tell the difference between a muscadine and a bunch grape is the tendrils. Muscadine grapes have a single tendril. In bunch grapes, the tendrils fork into a "V." The Calusa grape (Vitis shuttleworthii) is the first bunch grape to ripen and the only one that is red when ripe. Its also the largest and grows in the swamp. Next to ripen is the sub-species of Summer Grape (Vitis astevalis) which is native to Florida and that Fennell called Vitis rufotomentosa. It grows in the scrub or high pine area and has rusty colored hair on new growth. The berries come in larger bunches and are dark purple to black. Last to ripen is the Florida Grape (Vitis simpsonii). It grows in swampy areas like the Calusa Grape (V. shuttleworthii) but has much larger leaves and small dark berries similar to Summer Grape. A Florida Grape (V. Simpsonii) that naturally had no pigmentation (green in color) called Pixiola was the grape used by UF to breed the Lake Emerald hybrid bunch grape. The wild muscadines (Vitis munsoniana) have the greatest variability in ripening time with the earliest ones starting before the bunch grapes and the latest ones finishing after bunch grapes. If I get time to post and can get the pictures, I will add the other grapes to this post. Unfortunately, some of my best spots have been bulldozed with all the "progress" we have going here.

[Galatians522]

Here's a picture of the fruit load on a Scarlet Beauty Plum grafted to a native Flatwoods plum. I took the picture back in May. Jack fruit leaves on the left just to prove it can happen.