wow, what is their elevation there? i know Peru is famous for high elevation fruits like cherimoya and lucuma.

in the Brazilian rainforrest there are several different varieties of Jaboticaba. i would *REALLY* like to get my hands on one or more

bryan,

the pictures were made in pucallpa, 505 ft, in the amazon basin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pucallpa

cherimoya and lucuma do not grow in tropical (humid) climate. they either grow on the pacific cost, west of the andes, or on the east side, but at high elevations. the point is, that on the eastern side of the andes, at very high elevations they still have subtropical climate, at some thousand feet!

i have one jaboticaba plant (i don't know the cultivar), but i've never tasted the fruit. i would love to get some of those brazilian cultivars, too :-)

i think thats the fruit on the cover of Bill Whitmans book, also called South American Sapote

yes, that's the matisia cordata. i guess mr whitman knew why he put that fruit on the front cover ;-) in my opinion, good matisia varities can compete with the best mangos! i love that fruit!

there are some matisias in the fruit and spice park in forida, which suffered severe cold damage last winter:

Here is a link that might be useful: Frost visits Fruit & Spice Park

Great photos Felipe, what does the Matissia taste like? I saw some seeds for sale on ebay this past winter but knew nothing about it.

-Ethan

ethan,

it's hard to describe the taste; good varieties (small size and pointed shape) had an intense aroma, sweet and complex. it reminded me a little of a sweet mango, but with an exotic touch. delicious! in peru you get the fruit in the markets around march-april.

as i wrote before, i found a big amount of different varieties. i selected a few seeds of many bags full of matisia and planted them in pots. i could not take those seeds back to europe, so the selected seedlings are right now growing in peru. next time i visit my girlfriend's family i will take them ;-)

i would like to know, what that ebay seller says about the fruits he get the seeds from..

felipe

There is a distinct wet/dry season there, correct?

Can u imagine the various fruits that are probably yet to be discovered? Large amt of forest still exists (for now!). I've always wanted to visit that area of the world, but i'm too much of a wimp for heat/humidity. I'd do better in the deserts of the Atacama. I can see why a lot of the large cities down there are at high elevations. I met some girls from Colombia and they said they take vacations to Miami and i asked why, since they live right next to the equator. They mentioned that it never gets hot in Bogota, its like spring year round.

Felipe,
the ebay seller was in Malaysia and only listed the scientific and common names for the fruit, not much more. I'll keep my eyes open for them now, they sound interesting and the plant looks beautiful.

thank you for posting,
-Ethan

frank,

more or less distinct in that region. heavy rainfall can happen during the dry season..

the humidity is very high, the climate very hot and the sun is super-strong. i've been to thailand, but the amazon is hotter even in the rainy season. i was transpiring 24 hours a day. i know what yo are talking about; heat is ok as long as humidity is not too high. but tropical conditions a great for plants, the gow in minutes!

discovering new fruits is great, but in that climate, with that moskitos and other insects, the lack of infrastructures... also in my opinion in south america the fruit does not have the same value as in other tropics, like in asia. in southeast asia people love fruit, they know about fruit and they sell it everywhere! investigation is also poor in sa (as far as i know). so discovering new fruits in the amazon would be a tough job.

yes, i thought bogota had hotter climate, but a columbian friend told me recently the same..

ok so who has amazon seeds to trade....? or a seed source for purchases?

http://frutasraras.sites.uol.com.br

http://www.ecuadorexplorer.com/guaycuyacu/fruits_1.html

www.e-jardim.com

www.viveroanones.com

www.organicfarm.net

Hi pikorazi, I wanted to know where did you buy the fruits trees in Gran Canaria?

The zapote looks really good. I bet it would be difficult to find 'new' fruits down there...

amazondude,

gran canaria is not a good place for 'exotics'. nurseries only sell common things, not many cultivars. but there is a small nursery in tenerife which produces tropical/subtropical fruit trees. nurseries in gran canaria don't produce, they buy the plants from the spanish peninsula, or sometimes get the fruit trees from the one in tenerife. but it's not that much..

my exotic trees i've bought them over internet or raised them from seed, and then taken them to the island (i'm living in germany)..

felipe

Does anyone have camu camu seeds that I could buy?
I can't find them anywhere. Thanks. Kent

Hi Kent,

I have seen fresh camu camu seeds on ebay from time to time.

Tomas

Thanks Tomas, I have it in my saved searches but I've never seen them. I will keep my eyes open and hopefully I can buy them from you soon. Thanks again