NDEA

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Sarcocephalus xanthoxylon
FAMILY: Rubiaceae

Botanical description
A mid-sized swamp tree with a broad rounded crown reaching perhaps 30 metres, but more often 10-15 metres tall. The tree has a light-green colour and can easily picked out in the forest setting because of this.

The leaves are oblanceolate, 40 cm long, and they possess a pronounced leaf bract, especially when the tree is young. They are produced in opposite pairs and perpendicular to the previous pair. The bark is cream-coloured with soft, rough strips that can peel easily. The flowers start out as hard little green balls that are produced at young leaf nodes towards the end of branches. The green balls then become fuzzy in appearance as hundreds of miniature white flowers emerge and bloom.

The ripened fruit is very similar in appearance to the pincushion fruit, varying in size from ping-pong ball to softball. The fruit is ready to pick when it starts to turn yellow. An opened fruit exposes the edible white flesh that has hundreds of tiny brown seeds arranged in a ring, similar to that of the kiwi.

Bearing age:
Though we have no documentation on this, it is felt that with good care, the NDEA will fruit after 4-5 years, especially since the, seedlings grow quite fast. The fruiting season is normally from July till October, although it has been known to produce sporadically out of season.

Growing conditions:
As the tree occurs naturally in swamps and wet areas of northwest Zaire, it is obvious that it requires a good deal of subsurface water. Waterlogging is no problem, as it does well in standing or running water. Once in a while, a tree is spotted doing well in an area not inundated with water, but in cool shade and moist soil.

It is thought that 2000mm of rainfall would be sufficient to support a tree away from a water source (provided it was well-distributed). Rich soil, high in organic matter, is also recommended. In Florida, Bill Whitman reports that a 2-year-old Ndea tree survived two nights of 32 degrees F.

Propagation:
By seed sprinkled on top of moist soil in a humid area. They sprout like grass and must be thinned. The seedlings grow rapidly. No vegetative propagation methods have been attempted yet.

Cultivation practices:
Grown mainly as a home garden tree, but if attempted in an orchard, a spacing of 8m x 8m is recommended.

Fertile and moist soil is needed.

Uses:
Edible fruit. To eat it, one takes a knife and cuts off the pock-marked skin, then eat the rest. The flavour is similar to an apple and the texture is like a pear. These fruits are filling and tasty, but Westerners tend to label them too soft or mushy, if they are too ripe. It is one of the best Zairian fruits.

Cardwell/Johnstone Branch Newsletter No.34, February, 1993

DATE: May 1993

* * * * * * * * * * * * *