Need Help ID- Seedling Longan??

[sc4001992]

This tree was grown from seed, the person said it was a longan fruit they ate while at vacation years ago. They do not remember what type of longan it was, but the fruit tasted good.

Today they have the seedling tree in a 15 gal pot that was planted in their yard now. When I saw the tree, I said it can't be a longan the leaves don't even look like it.

Can you identify this tree, what is it?























Anyone that lives in the US (lower 48 states), first person to figure out what type of longan it is, I will send you a FREE USPS medium flat rate box full of the Dennis Big Yellow Passion Fruit cuttings.

If I still have one fruit, I will include that in the box as well.

Thanks, hope someone knows this tree.

-> Update, no more Dennis cuttings so it will be something else that you like.

[EuroFruit]

Hi,
Where is the picture ?

[sc4001992]

Here's the Dennis Big Yellow Passion fruit cuttings from yesterday, and what these fruits look like.

[Sharq]

That isn't a longan. They don't push their new leaves like that. It could be a sapodilla, it really looks like a strangler fig or magnolia to me but that might be my Florida brain. For reference, heres a picture of a longan seedling with new growth.





Edit: I somehow read the post wrong and didn't notice you were also saying it isn't a longan. Still looks alot like ficus aurea (strangler fig) but there could be other ficus I am unaware of that look very similar.

[shot]

Ficus

[sc4001992]

Sharq, Yes, I agree that it doesn't look like any longan trees I have growing in my yard. I have many seedlings and large trees and the leaves look like what you showed above.

But when I go to this person's house to graft other fruit trees, she insists it was a longan fruit she ate years ago, then planted the seed and this is the tree.

Shot, does a Ficus have fruits, she insists it was a good tasting fruit. I believe her since she has over 5 excellent seedling fruit trees grown in her yard. I dug up her 16 ft white sapote seedling tree which gives good fruits. She has been planting seeds from the best tasting fruits for over 15 yrs now. One other excellent seedling is her Kumquat tree which gives large Nagami size fruits, but tastes better, some people tell me they thought the fruits tasted like a mix of Nagami and Meiwa when I asked them to try the fruits.

[ScottR]

Kaz, looks like Magnolia or Black Sapote or Pouteria maybe but not any kind of Longan for sure! Will be interesting to find out what it is??
I have one a friend says was soursop (seedling)but different leaves and don't know what it is I'll try and post later a pic.

[sc4001992]

Yeah, maybe some time of black sapote, I have a small seedling plant so when it gets larger I can compare leaves. I just hope the tree starts to have flowers so we can see what fruit if any it has.

[SurfFisher08]

Yeah, that's just a Ficus...like one of the house plant varieties.  I have one in my bedroom lol.  They'll make fruits but I heard they're inedible.  A small tropical fig.

[sc4001992]

Ok, sounds like I will need to wait until I hear the tree has flowers or fruits and take more photos for you to review again, maybe next year?

[Rob From Sydney]

I see that plant, I instantly say "Moraceae" to my self. Unfortunatuely, that's a ficus.

Sorry about that. I've had a similar thing happen to me. Though I was growing Rollinia seedlings, turned out to be Loquats  :'(

[sc4001992]

Yup, no one seems to say it is a xxx. But I hope it flowers and maybe have a fruit soon and we will all know what it is. She seems to be pretty good at keeping track of all her seedlings so it may be something good.

This person's mom who grows all these seedlings gave me one large heavy book she has been reading and it weighs over 10 lbs. My little fruit scale showed OL.





Anyone else seen this pictorial encyclopedia of exotic plants?

[NateTheGreat]

Where was the vacation? I'll guess Ficus rubignosa. The fruit look like longans, and are edible.

"An endemic Sydney species is the Port Jackson Fig (Ficus rubiginosa). It takes its name from the old European name for Sydney Harbour. Clarence says, "The old Aboriginal name, Birra Birra, is a little bit different. The fruit is ruby red. It's not bad, if you want to eat it, but it's not my favourite!""

"The fruit are edible but not tasty; of the local figs this is probably the most palatable one especially if the best fruit are selected. CAUTION! Some native plants are poisonous. Correct identification and preparation is essential in all cases."

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/199385-Ficus-rubiginosa/browse_photos
https://www.abc.net.au/gardening/how-to/fig-trees/9431794
https://finder.growingillawarranatives.org/plants/plant/235

[sc4001992]

Nate, just looked up the Ficus rubignosa, you might be right, the leaves looks similar.

I'm going to send some photos to the lady, Amada, so she can show her mother. I will be going over there next week so I will tell you what she said about the fruits.

I will also ask if she ate the fruits here or somewhere else when she was on vacation.

[dolomis]

That’s 1000% a strangler . Like Rob said it’s easy to think it’s a moracea. Can quickly become a costly mistake depending on the location.
I have a massive one in Jamaica at 30+ ft great shade tree . The figs are very small and fruit in large quantities, about the size of a dime.  They aren’t too messy whenever they fall but they do completely cover the ground. They are not sweet, very mealy and astringent. And note- this tree has to be quite large to begin fruiting. 
In my opinion, there are better Indian varieties with similar vigor,  fruiting capacity and much larger fruits.

[sc4001992]

Ok, not sure what that is, but whoever can guess the correct plant it is, I will give the prize. I hope there is some easy ID characteristics that will show as this tree grows larger/older.

I will try to ask again if her mother got the fruit (seed) outside of the USA or from a local market here. Also, will ask again how old she estimate it is. The mom is getting old so maybe she made a mistake on what seed this was from.

[dolomis]

I was referring to Ficus macrocarpa Chinese banyan. It could be ficus elastica, macrophylla , rubiginosa and the list goes on. You have more luck finding a dna test for it.  realistically you wont be able to tell.  a waiting game for sure put it in the sunniest spot you can find.

[sc4001992]

Yup, it doesn't look like a fruit tree to me.

[Okvid]

Probably not rubiginosa since it doesn't have a velvety underside. Probably not elastica either since there's no big drip tips in the pic. Probably not macroyphylla either since the undersides are green and not rust colored. A photo of just the leaf would be good along with it folded in half to see the alignment. Could be altissima (although its shape isn't as oval as altissima). Could also be aurea.