From the book
Fruits of Warm Climates
by Julia F. Morton
Bacuripari
Rheedia
macrophylla Planch.
& Triana
GUTTIFERAE
The bacuripari, R.
macrophylla Planch. & Triana, is also called
bacury-pary in Brazil; charichuela in
Peru.
It
is a pyramidal tree, 26 to 40 ft (8-12 m) tall, with stiff, leathery,
lanceolate-oblong or broad-lanceolate leaves, 12 to 18 in (30-45 cm)
long and 3 to 7 in (8-18 cm) wide, pointed at both ends, with numerous
lateral, nearly horizontal veins. New foliage is maroon. The
4-petalled, male and female flowers are home in small axillary clusters
on separate trees, the male on delicate stalks to 1 1/2 in (4 cm) long
and having numerous stamens, the female on thick, short stalks and
sometimes having a few stamens with sterile anthers.
The fruit
is rounded-conical, pointed at one or both ends, about 3 3/16 in (8 cm)
wide, with thick yellow rind, usually smooth, sometimes rough,
containing gummy yellow latex. The white, aril-like pulp, agreeably
subacid, encloses 3 to 4 oblong seeds.
The tree is native to
humid forests of Surinam and Brazil to northern Peru. The fruit is not
much esteemed but widely eaten and sold in native markets. The
bacuripari was introduced into Florida in 1962 and planted at the
Agricultural Research and Education Center in Homestead, at Fairchild
Tropical Garden and in several private gardens. One tree fruited in
1970, another in 1972, and the latter has continued to bear. Young
specimens have been killed by drops in temperature to 29º to
30º F (-1.67º--1.11º C). Older trees have been little
harmed by 27º to 28º F (-2.78º--2.22º C). The tree
is accustomed to light-to moderate-shade. Seeds have remained viable
for 2 to 3 weeks but require several weeks to germinate.
In
Brazil, the tree blooms from August to November and the fruits mature
from December to May. In Florida, flowers appear in April and May and a
second time in August and September, and the fruits are in season from
May to August and again in October and November. Some 15-to 20-year-old
trees have produced 100 to 200 fruits when there have been no adverse
weather conditions.
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