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Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: natal plum and coco plum wanted
« on: May 13, 2019, 04:17:21 PM »
I think the latin name is Chrysobalanus icaco.
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Is there a chance to ask IVIA for it?Yes, we can contact them and ask them if they could for example send us scions.
I also came across this paper but was unable to find much other information on the cultivar. Sadly even the paper itself is behind a paywall. But now I found a description of the cultivar on the website of a Spanish loquat germplasm bank. It seems to confirm its everflowering habit:
http://www.ivia.gva.es/documents/161862582/163110574/EJ081_Piera.pdf/4573833b-5f12-43e2-922a-98466ec6881b
http://www.ivia.gva.es/ca/banco-de-germoplasma-de-nispero
The cultivar is grown in Italy and Spain, so maybe someone could send us scion wood or potted plants. I will try contacting some nurseries in south tyrol and ask them if they have access to it.
I also asked for scions here: http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=31185
It is an open pollinated seedling of Swingle citrumelo. It is extremely hardy and although does contain some amount of internal oils, can be used for a jus or a curd for the tarts.
http://citrusgrowersstatic.chez.com/web/viewtopiceb1b.php
Not 100% zygotic, but after castration and cross pollination yields a decent number of zygotic seedlings.
I don't know how flowering time is regulated in the genes in loquat and what determines if a cross has the flowering time of either one of the parents or a different time altogether, but I wouldn't assume that all crosses would flower in e.g. February as that is the middle between the parents. If that were true, then creating the Spring Blossoms hybrid would not have worked in the first place.
We only want one trait from E. bengalensis, which is its spring-blooming habit. It's less hardy than E. japonica and I don't know if it produces desireable fruit. A backcross with E. japonica would ensure good edibility, better hardiness, and less unrelated E. bengalensis genes. In the offspring between the hybrid and E. japonica there would surely be winter-blooming plants, but the question is if there are still some that flower in the spring. Those would be superior plants, which are even closer to E. japonica while still keeping the valuable spring-blooming habit.
I would not cross the hybrid with other wild relatives which further decreases edibility and deviates from regular loquat. A complex hybrid with many different species and a majority of wild genes doesn't seem neccessary when a first generation hybrid with E. japonica already has the spring-blooming trait. I'd rather cross a northern E. japonica cultivar with E. fragrans, E. elliptica or E. petiolata if I have access to those.
I also found sources that state that E. bengalensis flowers in the winter, but according to the paper, they chose E. bengalensis as a hybrid partner for E. japonica particulary because it flowers in the spring. I don't know why e.g. Flora of China states that they flower in the winter...
So I wrote the corresponding author of the paper "Identification of interspecific hybrids between loquat (E. japonica) and bengal loquat (E. bengalensis)" and asked him about the progress of the project. While he is already working in another area, he sent me a link to a news article.
Original: https://sichuan.scol.com.cn/yaxw/201806/56299857.html
Google Translate: https://translate.google.at/translate?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fsichuan.scol.com.cn%2Fyaxw%2F201806%2F56299857.html
Apparently the hybrid trees mentioned in the paper have already flowered and fruited twice and produced tasty loquats. From what I've understood via Google/Bing Translate, they flower in March (the text also mentions April?) and produce fruit in June. Their current temporary cultivar name is "Spring Blossoms" loquat ('春花'枇杷) and the trees are located at the scientific research park of Sichuan Agricultural University. The team is currently trying to graft them on regular loquat cultivars. Can anybody who speaks Chinese confirm (regarding April)?
So I guess there are spring-blooming loquats now