Byrsonima crassifolia (Cultivated)

Byrsonima crassifolia (L.) Kunth, Nov. Gen. Sp. 5: 149 1822. (syn: Byrsonima coriacea (Sw.) DC.; Byrsonima cotinifolia Kunth; Byrsonima crassifolia f. cubensis (A.Juss.) Nied. …………………; Byrsonima cubensis A.Juss.; Byrsonima cumingiana A.Juss.; Byrsonima fagifolia Nied.; Byrsonima fendleri Turcz.; Byrsonima ferruginea Kunth; Byrsonima ferruginea var. moureila Benth.; Byrsonima jamaicensis Urb. & Nied.; Byrsonima karwinskiana A.Juss.; Byrsonima lanceolata DC.; Byrsonima laurifolia Kunth; Byrsonima laurifolia var. guatemalensis Nied.; Byrsonima montana Kunth; Byrsonima moritziana Turcz.; Byrsonima moureila (Aubl.) Loudon; Byrsonima panamensis Beurl.; Byrsonima pulchra DC.; Byrsonima rhopalifolia Kunth; Byrsonima spruceane Nied.; Malpighia coriacea Sw.; Malpighia crassifolia L.; Malpighia moureila Aubl.; Malpighia pulchra Sessé & Moc.);

Cultivated in Uttar Pradesh and W. Bengal as per BSI flora of India;

Byrsonima crassifolia is a species of flowering plant in the acerola family, Malpighiaceae, that is native to tropical America. It is valued for its small, sweet, yellow fruit, which are strongly scented. The fruits have a very pungent and distinct flavor and smell. The taste is not comparable to any other fruit. Common names include changunga, muruçi, nanche, nance, chacunga, craboo, kraabu, savanna serrette (or savanna serret) and golden spoon.

Byrsonima crassifolia is a slow-growing large shrub or tree to 33 ft (10 m). Sometimes cultivated for its edible fruits, the tree is native and abundant in the wild, sometimes in extensive stands, in open pine forests and grassy savannas, from central Mexico, through Central America, to Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil; it also occurs in Trinidad, Barbados, Curaçao, St. Martin, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and throughout Cuba and the Isle of Pines. The nance is limited to tropical and subtropical climates. In Central and South America, the tree ranges from sea-level to an altitude of 6,000 ft (1,800 m). It is highly drought-tolerant.

The fruits are eaten raw or cooked as dessert. In rural Panama, the dessert prepared with the addition of sugar and flour, known as pesada de nance, is quite popular. The fruits are also made into dulce de nance, a candy prepared with the fruit cooked in sugar and water. In Nicaragua (where the fruit is called nancite), it is a popular ingredient for several desserts, including raspados (a frozen dessert made from a drink prepared with nancites) and a dessert made by leaving the fruit to ferment with some sugar in a bottle for several months (usually from harvest around August-September until December) — this is sometimes called “nancite in vinegar“.

The fruits are also often used to prepare carbonated beverages, ice cream and juice, in Brazil, flavor mezcal-based liqueurs, or make an oily, acidic, fermented beverage known as chicha, the standard term applied to assorted beer-like drinks made of fruits or maize. Nance is used to distill a rum-like liquor called crema de nance in Costa Rica. Mexico produces a licor de nanche.

(From Wikipedia on 18.11.17)

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Request for Tree ID 0003: This is from Lalbagh, Bangalore. You can see this opposite to the parking lot.

Is there a way I can check some database?
I have searched in flowerofindia.net, pradeep kishen’ book, and other available pdf’s on the net.
Any help will be appreciated.

Seems to be a very interesting tree. Can you send a close up of the flowers and fruits if possible.

I don’t have the closeup of the flower. but leaf, and bark

I am scratching my head as this tree is in Bangalore Lalbagh; and am familiar with most of the other trees there. The nature of flowers, the petals arrangements etc. lead me to think that this could be a member of malphigiaceae. I suppose this tree could be Byrsonima crassifolia syn. Malpighia crassifolia. I have requested … to send a few more photographs of flowers (close ups)for confirmation. Comments please..

http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/Byrsonima_crassifolia.htm

When I look at the above link it looks like it.

Byrsonima crassifolia syn. Malpighia crassifolia.