JungleSeeds
JungleSeeds&Gardens - Specialists in Exotic Seeds & Plants
Tropical Fruit
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JungleSeeds JungleSeeds&Gardens - Specialists in Exotic Seeds & Plants |
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Tropical Fruit |
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SEED_CATEGORIES
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Tropical Fruit
If any of you have a passion for growing tropical fruit, then this section should be of great interest to you. Most of these I have grown and many are quite ornamental as well as edible. |
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Annona squamosa 10 seeds £1.95 JS2360 |
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A small cool tolerant, deciduous tree to 15ft. Custard apples make excellent container specimens even grown from seed when they can come into fruit bearing age after just 2-3 years. The trees produce a small knobbly fruit with soft, creamy white flesh often having a minty or custardy flavour. Often called the sugar apple it is extremely popular throughout the tropics. |
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Averrhoa carambola 10 seeds £1.95 JS2101 |
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Averrhoa carambola is a slow growing tree from Asia. In nature, the trees will reach about 30 feet but much smaller when pot grown and you can expect a 5ft tall tree after 5 years. The pinnate leaves are sensitive and the leaves fold together at night, much like mimosa and we believe also slightly sensitive to touch. The trees produce the well known star fruit, which is an astringent fruit with a sweet and sour flavour. The slow growing nature of these trees makes them an excellent container tree and flowers can be expected in the 3rd to 4th year from seed. In the greenhouse, these plants start flowering in late spring and will have up to 4 flushes of flowers throughout the year. Flowers form in the leaf axils. The variegated white and purple flowers are followed by yellow to golden brown fruits that are up to 5 inches (12.7 cm) long. Carambola needs a rich, moist, slightly acidic soil mix with full sun to partial shade and kept on the dry side over winter while the tree is dormant. |
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Carica papaya Waimanolo 10 seeds £1.99 JS368 |
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A plant that I have grown on and off for a number of years but so far I have not managed to get any to fruit. The plants look attractive though with a tall stem topped by a cluster of palmate leaves and it grows easily from seed. The small flowers are scented which I found a bonus when grown as an ornamental pot plant. This variety forms fruit on shorter 4ft plants. |
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Carica pubescens 10 seeds £2.99 JS2574 |
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One of the parents of the Babaco hybrid this cool tolerant Papaya will tolerate short spells down to frost level but best grown in warm humid conditions. We think that like the Babaco it will be easier to over winter than normal Papaya in a heated glasshouse. The fruit is smaller and although it can be eaten raw is best cooked or made into jam. A small branching tree not more than 6ft in pots which will take a few years to achieve even in ideal conditions. |
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Cyphomandra betacea 10 seeds £2.50 JS617 |
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A novelty plant from Peru that has good use both for its tomato like edible red fruit (assuming you have space to allow it mature) and large downy leaves making it a bold pot plant for terrace decoration in summer. Makes a sparse shrub with terminal 4” racemes of 1” pink flowers spring to summer. Recently shown on one of the gardening programmes used for large leaved ornamental purposes. Quick growing. |
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Cyphomandra
betacea Yellow 10 seeds £2.50 JS1655
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A novelty plant from Peru that has good use both for its tomato like edible yellow fruits (assuming you have space to allow it mature) and large downy leaves making it a bold pot plant for terrace decoration in summer. Makes a sparse shrub with terminal 4” racemes of 1” pink flowers spring to summer. Recently shown on one of the gardening programmes used for large leaved ornamental purposes. Quick growing. |
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Diospyros
kaki 10 seeds £2.68 JS2297
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The most widely cultivated species is
Diospyros kaki or Japanese persimmon and cultivars are sold in
supermarkets as Sharon fruit. These are sweet, slightly tart fruits with
a soft to occasionally fibrous texture. Native to China, it is
deciduous, with broad, stiff leaves. Cultivation of the fruit extended
first to other parts of east Asia, and was later introduced to southern
Europe in the 1800s, and numerous cultivars like 'Hachiya' have been
selected. Seed grown plants produce both male and female trees. |
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Diospyros
lotus 10 seeds £2.68 JS2299
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The Date-Plum Diospyros lotus is native to southwest Asia and southeast Europe. It was known to the ancient Greeks as "the fruit of the Gods", but its English name is derived from the small 2cm fruit, which has a taste reminiscent of both plums and dates. Another hardy tree to -20°C. Seed grown plants produce both male and female trees. |
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Diospyros
virginiana 10 seeds £2.68 JS2298
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The American persimmon, Diospyros
virginiana is native to eastern North America. The small plum like
fruits are very astringent and mouth numbing when green, but sweet and
edible when ripe after a hard freeze; matures in late autumn. A small to
medium sized tree to 60 feet with a round-topped crown of crooked
branches and totally frost hardy. The glossy leathery leaves make this
tree a good one for landscaping. Seed grown plants produce both male and
female trees. |
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Eriobotrya
japonica |
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An edible fruit-bearing sub tropic with attractive large hairy leaves. Hardiness similar to the cordylines to -10°C. You sometimes see it growing in a London suburb front garden. This plant flourishes in hot dry conditions so over wintering in a conservatory would be a good alternative. |
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Eugenia
uniflora |
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The Surinam cherry rarely grown outside of the Americas is a bush or small tree to 25ft in height. It has adapted to both subtropical and tropical climates and is hardy to -3°C when full grown. Plants like full sun and are drought tolerant, needing only moderate rainfall. Fruits develop and ripen in just 3 weeks from flowering and are usually grown from seed. Eaten fresh with sugar or used in preserves. |
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Feijoa
sellowiana |
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This interesting small shrub will take some frost to perhaps -8°C, therefore fully hardy in some gardens. In mid summer it bears unusual large dark red flowers and if you grow two plants together, they will cross fertilise to bear delicious “guava” flavoured fruits. |
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Hibiscus
sabdariffa Superior |
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Originally native from India to Malaysia, H. sabdariffa, also known as ‘Red Sorell’, is now widely distributed and cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions round the globe. The attractive red or purple seed pods are edible and have an invigorating, astringent flavour. In the Caribbean, the calyx-covered fruits are brewed in water to make a refreshing, cranberry-coloured tea. They are also used in salads, jellies (such as Jamaica’s famous rosella jam), sauces, soups, beverages, chutneys, pickles, tarts, puddings, syrups, and wine. Powdered dried red sorrel is added to commercial herb teas such as Red Zinger for flavour and colour. |
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Hylocereus
undutatus |
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The dragon fruit sometimes seen in supermarkets is actually the fruit of a cactus. We find the taste of supermarket fruit very bland compared with the taste of freshly harvested fruit in the tropics. However if you are into cactus this one might be worth trying. Pictures show fruit and commercial growing conditions. |
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Lycium
chinense |
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The two species of Goji berry or Wolfberry grown are
Lycium Barbarum and Lycium Chinense, two very closely related species
from China. They are perennial plants and will grow to a height of
between one and three metres. They require a sunny position and a well
drained soil and fairly easy to grow, are self pollinating, drought
tolerant and are hardy plants. After being introduced into the UK many
years ago they have already been seen growing wild in some locations. |
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Manilkara
zapota |
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The sapodilla is a very common fruit in the tropics, and can be grown easily from seed although the resulting fruit quality is variable. It has glossy green leaves up to 5 in long which have pointed tips, and white flowers which produce 5-8 cm fruits. Cool tolerant to just above frost level it might be worth a try as a pot plant. Fruit is not produced though until about the 5th year. This tree is also famous for initially providing the ingrediants for chewing gum which used the rubber like latex extracted from the tree trunks (chicle) |
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Morinda
citrifolia |
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This small glossy leaved tropical tree is best known for its suggested but not proven medicinal properties and in particular the Noni Juice produced from its fruits. The tree is quick to mature in around 18 months in ideal conditions with small white flowers and strange smelly fruits. This has to be worth a try for its novelty factor! Seed slow to germinate but reliably. |
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Psidium
cattleianum var montana |
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A rare selected clone from mountains in China this is a slightly hardier form of the strawberry guava capable of up to -5C when established. This ornamental large shrub suitable for pot growing enjoys similar conditions to citrus trees with similar hardiness. The tasty red fruits have a sweet and aromatic flavour like a strawberry hence the common name. |
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Psidium
guajava |
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A tough tropical small shrub that tolerates down to frost levels with small white flowers followed by “Guava” 1cm to 5cm fruits. Easy to grow from seed flowering in the second year. |
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Punica
granatum nana |
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You can eat the fruit from this plant but it is not exactly a feast from 2" fruits! However the flowers are an attractive red colour often flowering profusely on an 18" to 2ft shrub. Best grown in bright conditions and it will tolerate a slight frost when it will behave deciduously. |
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Solanum
muricatum |
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A small bush or shrub from South America much like the tomato in looks and habit. Usually fruits in 9-12 months, so a frost free environment is required. Pepino’s will stand a few degrees of freezing however. Our trial plants started flowering in August from a spring sowing and the fruit that ripened around Christmas was best described as a sweet melon flavour with the texture of a Kiwi fruit and quite delicious. One fruit shown in the picture was about the size of a grapefruit. Best grown like a pot tomato plant and in the same conditions although they have proved much hardier and continue to grow through our winter even in a cold frost free greenhouse. |
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Solanum
quitoense |
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Medium sized shrub or small tree to 6-10ft from the Andes and a favourite of the Incas. The naranjilla is subtropical and enjoys slightly cooler than tropical temperatures so more suitable in the UK as a cool greenhouse plant. Leaf veins are generally a deep purple colour and attractive but often thorny! Naranjilla's like frequent watering and can stand brief temperature drops below freezing. It is easily container grown, the naranjilla is thought the be a short day plant, and may only set fruit when there are 8-10 daylight hours. The plant has bright orange fruits about the size of a large cherry tomato, covered with numerous fuzzy hairs that rub off when ripe. Pulp is green, acid, and of excellent flavour. |
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Tamarindus
indica |
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One of the most famous trees of the tropics. The large bean pods have edible flesh around the seeds, the pods can be cooked as a vegetable when young and even the bark is edible. The fruit is high in Vitamin C and cultivated all over the world. Before you get too excited though they are large trees not fruiting until 7 or 8 years old but the small trees with their soft downy attractive leaves make a good pot plant for a frost free environment. |
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Symbol Code Germination --- Easy n, Moderate n and Challenging n Backlog for Fresh Seed --- u New Seeds not in Catalogue ---« Hardiness --- ] (To -5°C) ]] (To -10°C) ]]] (To -15°C) Growing Symbols --- £ Sunny position £ Shady position S Lots of Water |
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