View Full Version : Nikki's mystery fruiting plant
Richard
04-08-2009, 08:40 PM
What is this fruit bearing plant with long, narrow leaves and large yellow flowers?
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=16548 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo= 16548)
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=16546 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo= 16546)
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=16547 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo= 16547)
alpha010
04-08-2009, 08:58 PM
If the fruit is roughly softball size then, my guess would be asian or some other type of guava......but then again, not sure what a guava plant looks like, just the fruit. Or, possibly some sort of Sapo- family derivative. Cut one up, if it has consistency of an apple with small white seeds and pungent odor then guava. I just recieved an asian in the mail the other day and it looked almost exactly like that fruit (was also to much to handle to eat).
Lagniappe
04-08-2009, 09:09 PM
Let's test it's hardiness, whatever it is! I have the perfect spot. ;)
Chironex
04-08-2009, 10:33 PM
Macadamia nuts?
lorax
04-08-2009, 11:27 PM
That really looks like Macadamia to me. Although I've never seen one quite so shrubby! Usually they're very tall trees.
Richard
04-08-2009, 11:34 PM
Macadamia nuts?
Maybe in a wild dream! Those fruits are over 2 inches long. The leaves and plant in general does not appear to be from Pittosporaceae.
lorax
04-08-2009, 11:48 PM
The leaves say "Podocarp" which is quite confusing, because none of the ones I've seen have fruit like that.
harveyc
04-08-2009, 11:49 PM
I have no clue other than I don't think it is any of the above. Are the fruit ripe? Is this in San Diego?
harveyc
04-08-2009, 11:54 PM
All of the macadamia I've seen have a serrated leaf and grow with a trunk. That plant sort of looks like an old vine.
Do you know what it is? I'm just wondering if this is a challenge quiz!
Richard
04-09-2009, 12:37 AM
It is in Carlsbad, near the coast about 20 miles north of San Diego. Check out the trumpet-shaped yellow flower. I don't know what the plant is, but we are going to find out!
alpha010
04-09-2009, 05:00 AM
Time for dave's garden plantfiles.....advanced search!
Lagniappe
04-09-2009, 05:44 AM
How neat would it be to have a search engine that gave the closest match for pics?
malaekahana
04-09-2009, 06:25 AM
To me this looks like Thevetia peruviana or Be-still tree. I am not sure about the fruit though, what do the seeds look like? It is a commonly planted small tree in Hawaii. You can google it and find out a lot of info about it.
harveyc
04-09-2009, 09:20 AM
My friend Bryan of Puerto Rico says this is a Euphorbiaceae. It is common there and he once had one, but he doesn't know the species or common name. He says that the sap is milky and that he believes the fruit is poisonous, so you might want to get a positive I.D. on it before sampling it!!! ;)
Richard
04-09-2009, 09:21 AM
Time for dave's garden plantfiles.....advanced search!
I have found it useful for "common nursery plants". The descriptions and care information for fruiting plants are sometimes inappropriate.
harveyc
04-09-2009, 09:23 AM
I searched and the fruit doesn't look the same on Thevetia peruviana.
Richard
04-09-2009, 09:32 AM
My friend Bryan of Puerto Rico says this is a Euphorbiaceae. It is common there and he once had one, but he doesn't know the species or common name. He says that the sap is milky and that he believes the fruit is poisonous, so you might want to get a positive I.D. on it before sampling it!!! ;)
Thanks, but definitely not in that family:
http://www.life.uiuc.edu/ib/335/Rosoideae1/Euphorbiaceae04.jpg (http://www.life.uiuc.edu/ib/335/Rosoideae1/Euphorbiaceae04.jpg)
lorax
04-09-2009, 09:39 AM
Okay, found a similar pic for it here (http://image46.webshots.com/47/4/76/73/348447673lUwUtu_ph.jpg&imgrefurl=http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/1348447673058195855lUwUtu&usg=__qfs6zjshQpS7wVuFyIk8xgoSPwA=&h=670&w=800&sz=121&hl=en&start=27&um=1&tbnid=JdA3JxXJOZc_uM:&tbnh=120&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtree%2Byellow%2Btrumpet%2Bflowers%26ndsp%3D18%26hl% 3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D18%26um%3D1 ). But no scientific name. This person is calling it Yellow Trumpet Tree. Most commonly, that means Tecoma stans, but this is most definitely not that.
Could be Tabebuia aurea, but I've never seen it with fruits like that... They're usually beans.
I'm puzzled. Richard, you may want to post those pictures at the UBC plant identifications forums, or I can. There are a whole bunch more experts over there.
Richard
04-09-2009, 09:40 AM
To me this looks like Thevetia peruviana or Be-still tree. I am not sure about the fruit though, what do the seeds look like? It is a commonly planted small tree in Hawaii. You can google it and find out a lot of info about it.
O.K., that's why those leaves look so familiar! There is also one at Tom Del Hotal's place in La Mesa.
Here is the classification in GRIN: Thevetia peruviana information from NPGS/GRIN (http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?36532)
And here are photos that provide an excellent match to foliage, flower, and fruit: Thevetia peruviana - Google Image Search (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Thevetia+peruviana&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=) (make sure your google preferrences have safe-search turned off)
harveyc
04-09-2009, 11:26 AM
Richard, can you point to an image in those that shows a fruit similar to what you provided?
You provided a chart to just a few Euphorbiaceae even though GRIN shows maybe a 250. You definitely should provide better support before using "definitely"! :P
Richard
04-09-2009, 11:31 AM
Harvey, you are welcome to come down and see the plant in person :D, compare it to Tom's plant, and taste the fruit if you like :eek:
momoese
04-09-2009, 11:34 AM
And here are photos that provide an excellent match to foliage, flower, and fruit: Thevetia peruviana - Google Image Search (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Thevetia+peruviana&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=) (make sure your google preferrences have safe-search turned off)
The fruit in those Google pics look different then the ones you posted.
momoese
04-09-2009, 11:41 AM
This looks to be the closest match but it still has a different shape. Camera angle maybe?
http://jardin-mundani.info/apocynaceae/thevetia-botanicactus4.jpg
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=16546
malaekahana
04-09-2009, 11:52 AM
The fruit definitely do not look like Tabebuia or Tecoma which are both in the Bignoniaceae. The flowers are too showy to be a Euphorbiaceae. I still think it is a Be-still tree/Mexican Oleander/Yellow Trumpet Tree/Thevetia even though the fruits dont look like a typical Apocynaceae (Plumeria, Oleander, Vinca, Allamanda). Does it have milky sap? I cant remember if they do...
Oh I probably wouldn't try and eat the fruit...:eek:
harveyc
04-09-2009, 11:56 AM
I looked at that image earlier and don't believe they look very much alike.
momoese
04-09-2009, 12:36 PM
I don't even think the leaves look alike. Different color and shape.
harveyc
04-09-2009, 04:48 PM
Harvey, you are welcome to come down and see the plant in person :D, compare it to Tom's plant, and taste the fruit if you like :eek:
No thanks!!! ;)
But I would like seeing seeing in this virtual world. Do you have some good photos? I looked at those Google photos before you posted them and the closest feature seems to be some flowers. It would be helpful to have photographs that focuses on the leaves better. I can't tell if they look different because of focus or not.
momoese
04-09-2009, 06:12 PM
The one thing that does look very similar is the branching of the tree compared to those on Google images. It will be interesting to find out!
Richard
04-09-2009, 07:18 PM
I'll send a piece to Harvey.
harveyc
04-09-2009, 08:02 PM
Thanks, Richard! ;)
malaekahana
06-23-2009, 06:22 AM
I put some picture of my plant flowering in the post for plants flowering today...
What is blooming in your garden today (other plants)? - Page 16 - Bananas.org (http://www.bananas.org/showthread.php?p=81454&posted=1#post81454)
musaboru
06-23-2009, 11:11 PM
Thats a Thevetia. I often see them around LA, especially on freeways, but not as much as oleanders. There is some along the 405 around LAX too. Probably toxic, so careful about touching them. They are mostly shrubs, but some are tree forms. Not sure if they are different species or not, or if the tree forms are grafted.
Notice the flowers have the pinwheel shape like a plumeria or an oleander?
I picked one of the fruits from a parking lot once and put it my pocket in hopes of growing it from seed. Then later in the day I notice this greenish brown gunk like boogers coming out of my pants and it was the pulp of the fruit (I guess it turned brown from oxidization). :ha:
harveyc
06-27-2009, 08:32 PM
I didn't dare try eating the fruits (nor leaves) which Richard sent me a couple of months ago!
musaboru
06-27-2009, 11:27 PM
Some fruits in this family are edible, and quite nutritious, like the Natal Plum. But since this Thevetia is also known as a yellow oleander or be-still tree, I think that probably means it has some toxicity to it.
Richard
06-27-2009, 11:31 PM
Genus: Thevetia
Family: Apocynaceae subfamily: Rauvolfioideae tribe: Plumerieae.
Genus: Carissa
Family: Apocynaceae subfamily: Rauvolfioideae tribe: Carisseae.
-- from Taxonomy Query for GRIN Species Records (http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxgenform.pl?language=en)
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