WHERE DO OUR TROPICAL FRUITS COME FROM?
Before you begin to favour one region of the world over another as to which has produced the finest tropical fruits, think where do they come from? Be careful because tamarinds didn't originate in India, nor Normanton.
SOME IMPORTANT TROPICAL FRUITS AND THEIR ORIGINS
| AMERICAN ORIGIN | ASIATIC ORIGIN |
| x Carica papaya (Papaw) | x Citrus sps. |
| x Passiflora sps. | x Mangifera indica (mango) |
| x Persea americana (avocado) | x Musa hybrids and sps. (banana) |
| x Ananas comosus (pineapple) | x Litchi chinensis |
| x Psidium guajava (guava) | y Euphoria longana (longan) |
| y Annonasps. (custard apples) | y Nephelium lappaceum (rambutan) |
| y Anacardium occidentale (cashew) | y Averrhoa carambola ( carambola) |
| y Manilkara zapote (sapodilla) | y Artocarpus heterophyllus (jakfruit) |
| z Chrysophyllum cainito (star apple) | z Garcinia mangostana (mangosteen) |
| + Bertholletia excelsa (Brazil nut) | + Durio zibethinus (durian) |
| + Pouteria sapota (mamey sapote) | + Lansium domesticum (duku/langsat) |
| + Mammea americana (mamey apple) | + Salacca edulis(salak) |
| OTHER ORIGINS | |
| x Macadamia spp. (Australia) | |
| y Tamarindus indica (Trop. Africa) | |
| Key | |
| x = already grown commercially in Australia | |
| y = grown commercially in regions other than origin. | |
| z = grown in large numbers in specific areas in regions other than origin. | |
| + = fruits of outstanding qualities worthy of expanded commercialisation in areas other than regions of origin. |
Dr Robert Knight Jr., Horticulturist with the U.S.D.A. in a paper entitled 'Origin and World Importance of Tropical and Subtropical Fruit Crops', listed 21 sites of origin of fruit crops. Of these 21 fruit crops, 9 were of American origin, 7 of Asiatic origin, 2 of Mid-East origin, 1 of African, 1 of Australian, and 1 a hybrid developed in Puerto Rico of Asiatic parents.
| SPECIES | AREA OF ORIGIN |
| Malphigia glabra | American |
| Persea americana | American |
| Musa hybrids and spp. | Asian |
| Phoenix dactylifera | Mediterranean |
| Durio zibethinus | Asian |
| Ficus carica | Mediterranean |
| Psidium guajava | American |
| Eriobotrya japonica | Asian |
| Litchi chinensis | Asian |
| Macadamia spp. | Australian |
| Mangifera indica | Asian |
| Garcinia mangostana | Asian |
| Carica papaya | American |
| Passiflora spp. | American |
| Diospyros kaki | Asian |
| Ananas comosus | American |
| Manilkara zapote | American |
| Annona muricata | American |
| Tamarindus indica | African |
| Opuntiaspp. | American |
| Citrus hybrid (Chironja) | Asian parents/Puerto Rico hybrid |
DATE: September 1981
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