'FRUIT FOR THOUGHT'

Alan Carle, Mossman grower and consultant, and original convener of the Rare Fruit Council of Australia continues his column.

BORNEO TRIP RATES AS ONE OF THE BEST
Lauren Gartrell and David Chandlee's eight month sojourn to Sabah and Sarawak must rate as one of the best, if not the most significant, seed collecting trip in the past five years. The list of new fruits to reach Australia is very impressive, with perhaps forty species never before introduced. Many new species of Durio, Artocarpus, Nephelium and so on. Whole new genera such as Willoughbea, Litsea and Pentaspadon. Lauren and David have been with the Rare Fruit Council of Australia since its inception and feel it is great that they have been able to contribute to the Rare Fruits Industry in such a way. As with other fruits time will tell which are goers and which are truly 'rare fruits'. This collection greatly increases the genetic diversity of fruits here and makes tropical Australia more unique with each new fruit that bears .......... Well done!

PROTEIN AND FRUIT
Whilst most fruits are not extremely high in protein concentrations, there is a great deal of variability amongst the different types. Most of our common fruits are in the range of 0.2 to 2.0 grams per 100 gms edible portion.

Pineapple0.4)These analyses are averages taken from different sources.
Papaya0.6)
Mango0.7)
Avocado1.1)
Banana1.1)
Some other fruits:
Pawpaw5.2Asimina triloba (USA)
Guapinol6.2Hymenea courabil (Tropical America)
Eben tree7.0Dacryodes edulis (Tropical Africa)

As far as know the Ebentree is not in Australia yet - something worthwhile to obtain.

Although I live in a tropical region, I can sympathize with those growing fruits in cooler areas. Here are a few fruits that I've come across which may not be that well known.

Northern ScandinaviaCloud Berries - Rubus chamaemorus. These are orange-yellow blackberry sized fruits high in Vitamin C. They are used fresh, in jams and liquers.
EuropeCornelian Cherry - Cornus mas. Olive-shaped and sized fruit, there is much variation in flavour, with some large-fruited clones reported in the U.S.S.R.
North AmericaJuneberry - Amelanchier alnifolia. Shrubby tree to 8m with 8 - 20 mm diameter round fruit - blue to black in colour, juicy, insipid, mild flavour. Selected varieties include: Shannon; Success; Indian and Dwarf Mountain.
North AmericaBuffalo Berry - Shepherdia argentea. Dioecious, size from currant to small gooseberry. Red or yellow, highly acid and borne in clusters. Grown by seeds, cuttings or suckers.

UNUSUAL GROWTH
Last issue I wrote about cold protection. The winter of 1984 was fairly bad here. A few consecutive cold mornings where grass temperatures fell to 5.5°C.

Something unique happened to our Tampoi trees (Baccaurea griffithii). Very quickly they lost all leaves, and within weeks the tips started dying back. Our largest of six trees was 3m tall. All of them died to within 100 mm of the ground. The bark actually dehydrated and started to flake away; repeated scratchings revealed no life above the 100 mm mark. Then after a few months of warmer weather, callousing began just above ground level. On three of the six trees the callous tissue grew upwards perhaps 150 mm. On two of those three trees, it grew upwards to what appeared to be a dead bud and rejuvenated it. Shortly thereafter, a shoot appeared, and after eight to nine months, the two trees had their first green leaves since the cold. They are still alive today.

PROBLEMS WITH SONCOYA - Annona purpurea
In 1978 whilst in Mexico, I was at a Research Station and was given a fruit called a soncoya. It looked rather like a bullocks heart with pinkish-orange flesh. These seeds were sent to Australia and called soncoya. They are not, I apologize for the mistake - now you can see how easy it is.

Anyway, since then soncoya is in the country - and has been grafted onto several rootstocks - most notably in our region, A. reticulata and A. muricata. They have grown well, even flowered, and then the rootstock dies - thus eventually killing the soncoya scion. Has anyone had success grafting soncoya (more than two years on)? It might save us time trialling many different rootstocks and intergrafts.

Some input on the first two items of this article was contributed by M. Ashton, Kuranda.

Alan Carle

DATE: September 1985

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