RARE FRUIT COUNCIL ACTIVITIES

Transcription

1 WHITMAN AND HARDY: RARE FRUIT COUNCIL 297 RARE FRUIT COUNCIL ACTIVITIES Wm. F. Whitman Co-Founder and First President ^ Rare Fruit Council1 AND Laymond M. Hardy Recording Secretary2 The first regular monthly meeting of the Rare Fruit Council covered by this current paper, was held on November 11, 1960 at the Simpson Memorial Garden Center. The Coun cil was privileged to have Dr. James G. Gosselink, who was then with the U.S. Plant Introduction Station, Chapman Field, as speaker of the evening. Dr. Gosselink opened with a brief history of Chapman Field where many ornamental plants were introduced, prop agated and distributed during the early years. Now, however, emphasis is more on plants with a possible commercial or economic use. Much of the material from the station is used by personnel at other stations for research work. Chapman Field is a quarantine station for cacao (Theobroma cacao), coffee (Coffea arabica) and rubber (Hevea brasiliensis). The speaker used the mango (Mangifera indica) to illustrate problems of research which occur in developing improved fruits. Better varieties for Florida, resistance to anthracnose (Colletotrichum gloesosporioides), or dwarf trees for easier commercial handling and greater production are examples of what might be developed. A breeding program could produce superior varieties and possibly some coldresistant strains. The difficulties presented by problems in development are a challenge to growers and researchers alike. Mr. Whitman read a letter from Dr. Adrian Brash, Honolulu dentist with the most exten sive Polynesian banana collection in the l189 Bal Bay Drive, Bal Harbour 54. *2466 N.W. 91st Street, Miami 47. Hawaiian Islands. Dr. Brash reported recently discovering a new unnamed native banana in the Punaluu Valley, Oahu. Miss Neal, Bishop Museum botanist bestowed the name "Ulaula" (Hawaiian for red) on this tall member of the Iholena (Musa sapientum) family. He also stated that his largest Moa banana (M. sapien tum), a member of the Popoulu group, was seven inches long by thirteen and a half inches in circumference or as large a fruit as the average solo papaya (Carica papaya). Both the above banana varieties have since been for warded by Dr. Brash to South Florida where they are being grown experimentally. At our December meeting Roscoe Glenn re ported on germinating seeds of the granadilla (Passiflora quadrangularis) for future distribu tion among the membership. These seeds were obtained from a fruit sent from Bradenton to the Rare Fruit Council by Mrs. H. H. Howell. Mr. Glenn described its excellent quality and hoped it will be more widely grown in the future. A letter from Mrs. Howell on deep freezing this fruit was read. Dr. Popenoe re lated that the yellow passion fruit (Passiflora edulis var. flavicarpa) fruited well at the Sub- Tropical Experiment Station. The guest speaker at the January session was our active member, Mrs. Lucita Wait, who re ported on her recent trip to Brazil made on behalf of the Palm Society, the Rare Fruit Council and flowering tree man Edwin A. Menninger. In Belem, Brazil, at the mouth of the Amazon River the Agronomical Institute of the North was her first horticultural stop. Here she met Dr. Ricardo Froes who was growing bacuri (Platonia insignis), an American relative of the mangosteen (Garcinia mangostand), an enormous, slow growing tree with attractive large white flowers and a desirable fruit. At Fortaleza, Brazil the speaker met Dr. M. Mateus Ventura and Miss I. Hollanda Lima who are doing work on the chemical analysis of the amino acids of fruits at the University

2 298 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1961 of Ceari Agricultural School. Huge fruit laden cashew trees (Anacardium occidentale) were observed with Dr. Diogenes Cabral do Valle, horticulturist at the school. Her next stop was Sao Paulo, where Mrs. Wait was born and spent her early childhood, a city located about two hundred miles from Rio at an elevation of 2,500 feet. Winters can be cold and damp here with frost every third or fourth year. Dr. Moyses Kuhlmann spent considerable time Zill mango (Mangifera indica) fruiting in Thailand, one of several varieties shipped to the Far East in (Photo by Pairoj Pholprasio)

3 WHITMAN AND HARDY: RARE FRUIT COUNCIL 299 showing Mrs. Wait the fruits of the area. Among those observed were the uvalha (Euge nia uvalha), a small tree with pear shaped one and a half inch long acid juicy fruit. Mature fruiting jaboticaba trees (Myrciaria cauliflora) with large bare trunks and branches were seen, excessive rains having caused extensive fruit splitting. Dr. Kuhlmann suggested the Paulista variety as a good rootstock, but not the best for eating. An interesting fruit of the area is the "Cherry of the Woods''(Phyllocalyx involucratus). Found growing in a wild state, this small trunked Eugenia has a rounded head of green leaves with bright red, cherrylike fruit. Two varieties were observed, one of which made a taller and more slender tree than the other, reaching an average height of twelve feet. The fruit sampled was found to be sweet and of an agreeable flavor. Mrs. Wait was of the opinion that the people of Brazil work horticulturally with the major revenue produc ing crops and have generally shown little in clination to experiment with, improve or grow under cultivation those fruits indigenous to the area. Seeds of the uvalha, cherry of the woods and "Cambuci" (Paivaea langsdorffii) were forwarded from Brazil to South Florida where they are currently being grown. At the conclusion of the assembly pictures were shown of the Kent, Zill and Keitt mango varieties fruiting in Thailand. These had been forwarded to Roem Purnariksha, Dept. of Agriculture, Thailand by Mr. Whitman in Dr. John Popenoe informed the February meeting of his recent trip to Key West, ac- Srinark" wax ambu (Syzygium javanica), a large pear shaped Thailand variety sketched by artist member Ota Williams. (Photo by Don Duffy) companied by Mr. Whitman, for the purpose of eventually establishing some of the more tender tropical plants in the frost free Stock Island Botanical Garden. Accompanied by Mrs. Stuart Whiting, chairman of the Botanical Garden restoration committee, a tour of the garden and later Key West was made. Several large breadfruit trees (Artocarpus incisa) were seen, including one on Francis Street brought to Key West half a century ago from Spanish Wells, Bahamas. A report was made at the March gathering by Roscoe Glenn on a recent journey to Bradenton where he visited Rare Fruit Council mem ber H. H. Howell, a Texan growing tropical fruits on Florida's west coast as a hobby. Forty of Mr. Howell's eighty acres had been planted, mostly to lychees (Litchi chinensis), jaboticaba and mangos. Of the six hundred lychee trees growing in the field, about half were marcots from six named varieties and the remainder mostly five year old Bengal seedlings. Of these seedlings thirty seven bore for the first time this year, one tree producing "seedless" fruit while others showed considerable seedling varia tion. Of interest is Mr. Howell's practice of marcotting large lychee limbs and planting the air layers directly in the field. The jaboticaba plantings contained six hundred five year old trees, mostly variety Sabara. Another variety, thought to be the Paulista, has a larger, but less desirable fruit, with a thick skin. Rows of sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum) are used as a windbreak for the young trees. Douglas M. Knapp, formerly Assistant Dade County Agricultural Agent and presently with the Geigy Chemical Corp. spoke on chelates at our April meeting. Chelates were first used on citrus in 1949 and prior to this some citrus groves had been abandoned because there was no way to correct the iron deficiency. While less material is required for foliar spray applications, chelates applied to the soil usually last longer. Some research has indicated that iron chelates tend to reduce virus symptoms, in crease waxiness or glossiness of leaves and de creases insect problems in some instances. Soil application chelates are absorbed most readily when applied mixed with fertilizer. Sequestrene 138 Fe had been used experimentally by Mr. Knapp on fruits growing in his yard. Even under adverse alkalin conditions most chlorotic plants responded to this soil application treat ment. Mrs. Otto Churney reported receiving

4 300 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1961 rnarcots of several new varieties of lychee and At the conclusion of the meeting cherry of the longan (Euphoria longana) from nurseryman Rio Grande (Eugenia aggregata) and the F. Leong Pung, 84 Panawa St., Hilo, Hawaii. Chinese strawberry (Myrica rubra) were offered A field hand gives this first crop of Bahamas grown lychees (Litchi chinensis) a critical inspection. (Photo by Wm. F. Whitman)

5 WHITMAN AND HARDY: RARE FRUIT COUNCIL 301 for sampling. The latter is a new fruit to this area which looks and tastes somewhat like the mulberry (Morns nigra). Scott U. Stambaugh, speaker of the evening, gave a most interesting talk on pineapples (Ananas comosus) in May. The early nine teen hundreds saw pineapple culture as a comparatively big business in South Florida from Miami Shores to Sebastian where pine apples flourished on the sandy ridge land. Seedling Golden Delicious apple tree (Pyrus malus) fruiting in Nassau, Bahamas. (Photo by Wm. F. Whitman).

6 302 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1961 The larger of the two apples is the Bahamian grown Golden Delicious seedling, a fruit that compares favorably in size, texture and flavor with imported store apples. (Photo by Wm. F. Whitman) In 1916 there were four hundred and eighty acres under cultivation in the Miami area, ninety eight percent of which were of the Red Spanish variety. The freeze of , plus heavy competition from Cuba and Puerto Rico finished the industry. There was also a lack of suitable land for expansion to replace fields that became nonproductive after twenty or more years of continued use. Mr. Jkambaugh has been successful in raising the Esmeralda variety for the market. These are grown under saran cloth and when harvested are individually wrapped in newspaper before being put in field boxes. Shipped showing color to the crown, they usually bring premium prices over the fruits imported green. A new canned product, soon to make its debut, is this naranjilla (Solanum quitoense) pineapple (Ananas comosus) concentrate. (Photo by Wm. F. Whitman)

7 WHITMAN AND HARDY: RARE FRUIT COUNCIL 303 At the conclusion of the meeting four varieties of wax jambu (Syzygium javanica) were offered for sampling. These included the "Srinark," a large pear shaped variety from Thailand and the Calcutta White, Pink White and Chiayi No. 2. varieties from Formosa. The wax jambu is more cold tolerant than the re lated malay apple (Syzygium malaccensis), is fairly easily grown and fruits abundantly in the warmer locations of South Florida. In Formosa this beautiful fruit is used as a mealtime decoration. It can also be added to fresh salads as a substitute for water chestnuts (Eleocharis dulcis). Other fruits sampled were the uvalha, Klick sapodilla (Achras zapota) and stewed pitomba (Eugenia luschnathiana). At the June session Miss Olga M. Kent, Dade County Home Demonstration Agent, gave a very comprehensive talk on the uses and pres ervation of tropical and sub-tropical fruits. Of interest were many locally grown fruits, such as the guava (Psidium guajava) which have more vitamins per gram than most temperate zone fruits. This was followed in July by a talk on the biological control of insects by Dr. F. Gray Butcher, Assistant Professor of Zoology and Entomological Consultant. At the con clusion of this discourse Mr. Whitman told of spending the month of June in the Bahamas where Mr. Edward M. Treglown's lychee plant ings produced what is believed to be the first commercial crop of this fruit in the colony. Offered as lychees, a Cable Beach grocery store found disposing of the fruit to be a problem. Relabelled "Red Chinese Genip" there was an almost immediate sell-out. Of particular interest was a seedling Golden Delicious apple tree (Pyrus malus) planted in 1953 by Mrs. Irene Dorsett of Brooklyn Ave., Nassau, Bahamas. Six years later the tree bore its first fruit and has since had annual crops that mature from June through August. The seedless apples are large, crisp, juicy and of good flavor with enough color present so as not to be objectionable. In an effort to keep the weight of the fruit from splitting or other wise damaging this sixteen foot tree the owner had wired some of the branches together. The tree is growing under near tropical conditions on extremely rocky calcareous land at an ele vation of less than thirty feet. For August the Council conducted a question and answer session. This was followed in September by Dr. Margaret J. Mustard, As sociate Professor of Tropical Botany, Univer sity of Miami, who gave a talk based upon a review of her two previous papers, "Megagametophytes of The Lychee" and "Observations of Floral Biology and Fruit Setting in Lychee Varieties." Dr. Mustard found that three types of lychee flowers appear consecutively on the same lychee panicle, and that the shift from one type of flower to the other is a gradual transition. The three types of flowers have been designated as Type I, Type II, and Type III, based upon their chronological order of development. A cytological examination re vealed that all three types of flowers con tained ovules, but that these ovules differed from one another in the degree of develop ment. Type I flower functions only as a male, Type II only as a female, and Type III only as a male. Cytological studies also indicated that there was both retardation and degenera tion which occurred in the ovules of the flowers investigated. The speaker suggested that com petition for nutrients and water may be factors contributing not only to the degeneration and retardation observed in these flowering parts of lychees, but that it might also be involved in the overall problem of fruit set. Member speaker at our October meeting was Dr. John Popenoe, Associate Horticulturist at the Sub-Tropical Experiment Station, Home stead, Florida and past President of the Rare Fruit Council. His subject was a recent trip to Venezuela. Arriving at Maracay, Venezuela in early July Dr. Popenoe set out for the eastern part of the country, along the Orinoco and Caroni rivers near the border of British Guiana, to visit commercial orchards and to search for rare fruits that are practically unknown. Here the madrono (Rheedia madruno) was found, a variety thought superior to the Rheedia aristata at the Sub-Tropical Experiment Station. In many of the dooryards in Ciudad Bolivar along the Orinoco River the merecure (Moquilea macrocarpa) was observed growing. This fruit resembles the Zunsapote (Licania platy pus). At Puerto Ordaz another fruit slightly similar to the pitomba was seen. This sweet, fiberless, orange colored fruit with a fine flavor was called "pauji" by the natives; the botanical identity of the fruit could not be determined. At a higher elevation in the town of Caripe Dr. Popenoe found another fruit also referred to as "pauji" which was the size and shape of the Malay apple, with flowers of sapotacae.

8 304 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1961 The botanical identity of this fruit which had a pleasing flavor also could not be determined. A variety of good barbados cherry (Malpighia punicifolia) without the usual stinging hairs on the foliage was observed at one of the farms. Seeds from this plant were collected and sent to Florida. The second part of the speaker's trip took him into the Andes of Western Venezuela. At Mereda seedless apples of good size and color were grown from cuttings along with seedling peaches (Prunus persiea) at an elevation of ap proximately 7,000 fet. From Mereda he visited Maracaibo, where the University of The Zulia is located, a dry area where mangos produce well. A worthwhile fruit growing in Venezuela is the cotopriz (Talisia olivaeformis), a Spanish lime (Melicocca bijuga) relative with small glossy leaves and a rounded head. There are two forms, one with pink fleshed fruit and the other with cream colored flesh. While the Spanish lime is as popular as the mango, the cotopriz is grown to a much more limited ex tent, in spite of its preferred flavor, probably because it is slower to come into bearing. Returning to Maracay Dr. Popenoe inspected orchards containing hundreds of soursop trees (Annona muricata) which usually produce best during the dry season. A serious insect problem exists where the flowers are bored into causing no fruit to form. Experiments in hand pollina tion produced indifferent results. As this is one of the most popular fruits an effort is being made to increase per tree output. Crops are ob tained from seedlings of wide variation and it was suggested that selection of the highest yielding seedlings and vegetative propagation could lead to increased yields. The Rare Fruit Council is again indebted both to its own members and to its friends abroad for the continued introduction of new and promising fruits for experimental grow ing in South Florida. It is hoped that our organization can play a worthwhile role in the redistribution of the most promising of these plants to many of the distant tropical areas where they are not already being grown. By reporting on these fruits, and by international plant exchange, the Council hopes to accom plish this objective. PAPAYA VIRUS CONTROL S. U. Stambaugh Miami Based on an experiment carried out this summer it now seems that a cultural pattern may be worked out that will result in control of virus diseases of papaya to the extent of rehabilitating papaya growing as a profitable industry. This experiment was carried out on eighty plants of two divergent progenies of the Blue- Solo Back Cross of the F4 generation. Progeny (1) consists of 40 plants that were at the beginning of the experiment about five months in the field and shoulder high. Progeny (2) consists of 40 plants about 60 days in the field and thirty to thirty-six inches high. This whole group of plants at the beginning of the experiment showed symptoms of virus most of them of multiple infections. This experiment was undertaken because of observations extending over the past ten years particularly in Jamaica and Central America, that a rather large number of varietal forms of Carica Papaya showed a tolerance toward virus infections under growing conditions that fell into certain rather specific patterns. There appears to be an accumulation of evi dence that virus diseases are and have been endemic in those places for a very long time. Further that in spite of virus diseases papaya of good quality are on the market most of the time. I arrived in Florida in 1916 and from that time until 1937, there were no evidences of virus diseases in Florida. The implication is that virus diseases of papaya did not exist in Florida previous to 1916 or they would have still been here. It is probably important to understand that a great many generations of papaya of many varietal forms were grown in Florida before the appearance of virus. This freedom from the opportunity for virus infection over a large number of generations would have tended to enable the plants that did not have tolerance toward virus to survive and add their genetic material to the general pattern.