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"GET THE AXE"

It is December 1999. Our friends David and Peter came with us for a walk down the back orchard to inspect the ZEVELU tree. (or Zavelu tree)

The Zevelu tree would be now close to the ten-year-old mark. The tree set its first flowers in February 1999 and consequently many fruit set.

We parted the branches to inspect the gold velvet fruit. The fruit being about the size of a hass avocado. The perfume of a sweet ripe rock melon surrounded the tree. A Zevelu fruit lay on the ground.

Don said to David who bent to pick up the fruit,"Don't touch it as I have already been beaten by the fruit." Don told David to pick up the fruit with a leaf.

The golden velvet spines prevent anything from eating the fruit. One just has to touch the velvet fruit, and fine glass-like spines worse than sugar cane hairy-mary sticks into your fingers. David carried the fruit up to the shed wrapped in a mamey sapote leaf. Don said "We can't eat this fruit as we will never get the hairs off it."

David proceeded to scrape the velvet hair off the fruit while Don lit a fire to burn off the velvet hair.

David succeeded in scraping off the fine hairs, exposing a green skin. He blew all the fine spines off and cut the fruit open.

The fruit was a total disappointment. Inside the fruit were six flat large seeds surrounded by a very thin jelly-like substance and then surrounded by a pith 'Something like the pith on a pomello' We took a taste of the seed, jelly and pith and found no flavour - the perfume deceiving the fruit.

Peter said he wouldn't walk through hot coals to get to the fruit.

Don said "I'll get the axe" and I said, "You can't judge a tree on its first fruit."

David said, "yes you can, get the axe".

We decided to give the tree a reprieve for a couple of months and record its fruiting. Someone may want to see it and gain some information.

Don said "It's got to go, it's too dangerous, the hairs are hard to remove and it's not worth eating."

Since that day, many more fruit have fallen and nothing has eaten the fruit. The fruit is just rotting on the ground, no one, including myself, is game to touch it.

There are two trees side-by-side in the orchard. One set fruit - it must be female, while the other flowered but did not set a fruit; it must be a male tree. How lucky it must have been to have two trees with one being female and the other male.

Don has marcotted the tree, but there is no sign of roots yet.

I had another look at the Zevelu on the fifth of January 2000. More fruit lay on the ground. I squashed a couple of fruit with my shoes and had another taste, "AWFUL!"

I tried wiping the velvet spines off with some newspaper but still some stuck in my fingers.

Guess what? A new tree will be planted in the Zevelu's place

DATE: February 2000

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