Pouteria campechiana (Introduced)

Pouteria campechiana (Kunth) Baehni, Candollea 9: 398 1942. (Syn: Lucuma campechiana Kunth; Lucuma elongata (C.F.Gaertn.) Steud.; Lucuma glabrifolia Pittier; Lucuma heyderi Standl.; Lucuma inseparabilis Dubard; Lucuma laeteviridis Pittier; Lucuma nervosa A.DC.; Lucuma palmeri Fernald; Lucuma rivicoa var. angustifolia Miq.; Lucuma salicifolia Kunth; Lucuma sphaerocarpa A.DC.; Pouteria campechiana var. nervosa (A.DC.) Baehni; Pouteria campechiana var. palmeri (Fernald) Baehni; Pouteria campechiana var. salicifolia (Kunth) Baehni; Pouteria campechiana var. typica Baehni; Pouteria elongata (C.F.Gaertn.) Baehni; Pouteria glabrifolia (Pittier) Cronquist; Pouteria laeteviridis (Pittier) Lundell; Pouteria mante Lundell; Radlkoferella glabrifolia (Pittier) Aubrév.; Radlkoferella inseparabilis Pierre; Radlkoferella sphaerocarpa (A.DC.) Pierre; Richardella campechiana (Kunth) Pierre; Richardella nervosa (A.DC.) Pierre; Richardella salicifolia (Kunth) Pierre; Sapota elongata C.F.Gaertn.; Sideroxylon campestre Brandegee; Vitellaria campechiana (Kunth) Engl.; Vitellaria nervosa (A.DC.) Radlk.; Vitellaria salicifolia (Kunth) Engl.; Vitellaria sphaerocarpa (A.DC.) Radlk.; Vitellaria tenuifolia Engl.; Xantolis palmeri (Fernald) Baehni);
Native to: Mexico to C. America; Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Nicaragua, Panamá; Introduced into: Bahamas, Cayman Is., Cuba, Florida, Puerto Rico as per POWO;
 
canistel, yellow sapote or egg fruit;
 
Fruits are supposed to be eaten by monkeys; 
The flesh of the fruits are edible, sweet when fresh and has the consistency of boiled egg yolk; 
 

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Sri Lanka : Fruit for ID : 070111 : AK-1: Taken at Sigiriya, Sri Lanka on the 16th of November, 2010.
Local name was given as ‘La Olu’.. fruits are supposed to be eaten by monkeys. Red ants are found under this tree.

It looks like Pouteria campechiana. Family Sapotaceae. Fruits are edible.

It is Pouteria campechiana, Family Sapotaceae

Pouteria campechiana of Sapotaceae.

 

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Chethalayam, Wayand, Kerala
Jan 2011
    Cheethalayam adventure – tree walk with the tribal & school boys


At Cheethalayam, Wayanad, sitting by the grassy slopes under the shade of a ficus tree which provided a great vantage point, we watched birds coming to feed on the fresh nectar of the red flowers of the silk cotton trees – four in number – standing tall and majestic in front of us. 


    It was a delightful view as perched on the tree branches (made for a nice canopy), we could see starlings, sun birds and the mynas engaged in chatter with some preferring to break into a song now and then.We also noticed (through binocular) birds like the solitary chloropsis (leaf bird),  a pair of minivets, a wood pecker  taking aerial root from tree to tree without any noise and whose movements along the tree branched were obscured by the thick canopy, though we got an occasional peep. Later, we could even hear them singing soft .. some where in the canopy.


” Heard Melodies are sweet
But those unheard are sweeter”
— Keats


    At that moment, two tribal boys (around 13 years) stood observing us from afar, while whispering to one another some of the flowers and the birds’ local names. We lured them into a conversation with us. Initially they appeared reluctant and shy but after some time, they began to talk slowly and started to narrate the names of the trees nearby in both Malayalam as well as Kannada. Going by the receptive audience, they even ventured to tell us about the lovely birds near the waterfalls and the wild animals inside the forests, in a radius of just 10 kms. 


    A little later, a gang of holidaying school boys, all noise and laughter, came onto the scene with their bicycles and edging the tribal boys aside began to dominate the conversation.One of them was a big boy (wearing half pant), who made bold to address us in his pidgin English – “You where”, You what doing” “You name place” “My photo take please” “I show water fall”. Then pointing to the various common trees he intoned, “This … pepper, This … areca, This … coffee, This … cardamum, This Mango..” as if he were an authority on forest flora.


    We then felt obliged to absorb this fount of information into our group and after partaking of some local savouries, we went for a small walk along a path met by a forest stream. Upon wanting to know the names of some of the trees, only the tribal boys could name them while Mr. Encyclopedia (Mr. E) went into amnesia.


The tribal boys continued to name the trees and even some of their uses with ease and I began jotting down the names in my book. When I wished to photograph one of the fruits on a tree, I requested Mr. E to continue writing the names in my book. He obliged faithfully taking my pen from me. The tribal boys continued walking ahead naming the trees .. Sundakai, Muthupazham, Muruge, Veetti, nugge, Egg fruit, …. as they encountered it with everybody listening avidly and Mr. E scribbling furiously in good cheer. …(I reproduce the names here, pls check the photo attachments)…


1. Sundakai,
2, Mutthupazham,
3, Muruke,
4, Veetti ….
so on ..


   Soon it was getting dark, we were returning back, the boys were found examining all the flowers growing on the fence in front of the village houses. I had photographed the gang of boisterous school boys but when I looked around for the tribal boys, they had already vanished into the woody trees.


   Before we departed, I returned the favour and asked Mr. E – “Your name” , “Your  school” “Which class” “Your house”. He introduced all the boys, citing a behavior unqiue to each individual and pointed to their houses
nearby. All the names started to sound alike to me with some names even starting to rhyme together, which is when Mr. E took my notebook and wrote down the names of his classmates/friends.


    Paulson Eldose (Chethalayam),
Yaseen (Chethalayam),
Ajil (————cc———-),
Ebine (——–cc———-),
Sam (———cc———-),
Edwin (——–cc———-),
Ajmin (———cc———-),
Fazis (———cc———-),
Muhsin (——cc———–),


   For all his faults, imagined and otherwise, Mr. E was indeed funny with a sweet disposition as were his assistants.

 

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efloraindia: Pouteria camapechiana: Sharing the images of Pouteria camapechiana from NBNP, Anaikatti, Coimbatore.

 

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Sharing the images of Pouteria campechiana: Sharing the images of Pouteria campechiana from Coimbatore.

Branch with flower buds, immature fruits.

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160713 ASP 114 : 6 posts by 3 authors. Attachments (1).

Please ID this tree with yellow fruit. Photo was taken in Sri Lanka in Dec 2012

May be Pouteria Campechiana of Sapotaceae; commonly called Egg fruit.

Yes, it is the south American egg plant called Pouteria campechiana, often seen cultivated in Kerala, where it is called Muttappazham. The flesh of the fruits are edible, sweet when fresh and has the consistency of boiled egg yolk.

Thanks for endorsing … I  would like to point out that commonly our brinjal is referred as the ’egg plant’ world over. 

 

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Und : 7 posts by 5 authors. Attachments (2).  
Request to identify this sapotaceae member??

Looks similar to Egg fruit? Pouteria sp

Is it Pouteria campechiana???

… These photos are definitely of a tree in the Sapotaceae – so you have the correct family. It is good that you have both the old flowers and the fruit since most of the important characters for identification (at least to genus) are in the fertile specimens. The number and orientation of sepals and petals are important characters for determining the genus. Size and shape of the seed scar can also be useful.  

The image is matching with Pouteria campechiana Baehni

 

 
 
 
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