Can someone help ID this?

[PltdWorld]

There are about a dozen of these trees that were added as lansdscaping along a street in Ventura, California.  Trees are evergreen and produce small red & orange fruits (with, from memory: multiple seeds and a cream colored center).  The picture of picked fruit was from July last year.  The photo of the tree and leaves were taken in March of this year.  Unfortunately, I lost the photos of the fruit cross-section, which I am sure would help.


PHOTO TAKEN MARCH 2013.  Tree structure.


PHOTO TAKEN MARCH 2013. Leaf structure.


PHOTO TAKEN JULY 2012.  Fruit

Thanks,

Jeff

[Ethan]

Hello Jeff, arbutus unedo, "strawberry tree".

[PltdWorld]

Thanks Ethan!  Now that I know it isn't poisonous, I don't mind sharing that I tried it... but it wasn't very good (more than slightly bitter).  Do you know how it is propagated and if there are improved varieties?  I will have access to thousands of the fruit again this Summer and wouldn't mind growing it if I knew I could find a worthwhile cultivar to graft onto it.  The tree itself is attractive.

[Cookie Monster]

hehe ventura is one of my favorite spots in the us. I see june gloom in the background. Is that near VCC?

[PltdWorld]

Hey Cookie Monster - this is actually right off of Hwy 33 - on the way toward Ojai - but still close enough to get the coastal influence.  The picture was taken Easter morning and it rained about a half hour after taking these pictures.  I picked and ate some of this fruit last year but couldn't figure out what it was - now that I found this forum, I wanted to get some more pictures up to ID it.

[fyliu]

These fruits are pretty bland. I never had one that's better than bland.

I'd grow a natal plum over this. They're all over the place as low hedges.

[PltdWorld]

Thanks - I won't waste my time on this one then... plenty of other fruits already on my want list.

[Cookie Monster]

Ohh, I know that area. Cookie Monster is home sick :-).

Hey Cookie Monster - this is actually right off of Hwy 33 - on the way toward Ojai - but still close enough to get the coastal influence.  The picture was taken Easter morning and it rained about a half hour after taking these pictures.  I picked and ate some of this fruit last year but couldn't figure out what it was - now that I found this forum, I wanted to get some more pictures up to ID it.

[davidgarcia899]

In Spain they make jam and liqueur out of the fruit, but i dont think there are any varieties for eating.

Also if you've ever been to Madrid, the city crest of the bear eating some fruit of a tree. The tree/fruit is this tree, the strawberry tree or madroņo tree as its know in spanish

[fyliu]

Jams and liqueur? I wonder if there's preparation methods that make it more flavorful.

[fruitlovers]

Thanks - I won't waste my time on this one then... plenty of other fruits already on my want list.

Fyliu is wrong, there are some that are indeed delicious! The problem is that in the USA most strawberry trees have been selected for ornamental purposes. But selections have also been made for good quality fruits, mostly in Europe, i think Portugal being one of those countries where it's well liked. So the hard part will be getting good quality selections. I think there are named cultivars. Some are listed in the Western Sunset Garden Book.

[PltdWorld]

Come to think of it, I remember the director of landscaping at one of the universities (Point Loma Nazarene) here in San Diego had told me about a "strawberry tree" that had delicious fruit.  That was three or four years ago and I never bothered looking up stawberry tree (hence, this topic).  hmmm.  Based on everyone else's feedback, I'm guessing her taste just happened to be different than most peoples - but it does make me want to try growing out a few now.

[fruitlovers]

Come to think of it, I remember the director of landscaping at one of the universities (Point Loma Nazarene) here in San Diego had told me about a "strawberry tree" that had delicious fruit.  That was three or four years ago and I never bothered looking up stawberry tree (hence, this topic).  hmmm.  Based on everyone else's feedback, I'm guessing her taste just happened to be different than most peoples - but it does make me want to try growing out a few now.

Not necessarily. If you taste a lot of the California strawberry trees, there is variation and ocassionally you will run into one that has good tasting fruits. But most of them are very bland. What you could do is find good tasting one and graft that on to a rootstock.