1/16/2008

Other Fruits

This cherry-like fruit is called Barbados Cherry(Malpighia punicifolia L.). It is rather sour but according to articles on the web it is suppose to be the fruit with the second highest level of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) behind the fruit of rose hips(Rosa rugosa) .
For more info on this plant please visit:-
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/barbados_cherry.html


This is the familiar Thai guava variety with larger fruit. The seller told me that rounder fruits are sweeter.

Here is a pineapple plant sprouting two side shoots after the unripe fruit was eaten by a monkey.


This is a Thai coconut that i brought back from Mr. Lim Song's orchid farm in Penang. I gave one plant earlier to my colleague Mr. Andrew Tan and it had already fruited. I planted mine a year or two later so i am still waiting. According to Mr. Lim, you need to give it lots of salt when it is this size and then soon you will get fruits and this Thai variety fruits early so you actually have to bend down to pluck the fruits!!



This is a view of the Thai coconut beside a local coconut tree.




This is a black sugar cane. This is better than the green type because even the nodes are tender. Sweetness level is the same.





This is obviously a cross between the Longan and Mata Kuching (Cat's Eye). Although the seller at the nursery labelled it as Longan. The fruit can be as big as a Longan but the taste is that of Mata Kuching. The flesh is much thicker than Mata Kuching, very sweet but too soft.
My orchid collections are at:-