Common name: Almirajo

Almirajo is a little-known fruit tree native to humid rainforests of the Choco region in Colombia, an area in the north-west of the country bordering Panama and with a long Pacific Ocean coastline.

It is a medium-sized evergreen tree, typically 10 to 15 m (33 to 50 ft) tall in closely spaced forests, with a straight trunk up to 25 cm (10 in) in diameter supporting a narrow crown. In clearings and on open sites, it is usually much shorter with a wide-spreading crown. The bark is smooth, pale grey and often mottled by lichens, mosses and algae, which thrive in the shade and humid conditions in which the tree grows.

The leaves are oval with pointed tips, up to 22 cm (9 in) long, dark green and prominently veined on top, pale green underneath. They are alternately arranged on the stems near the ends of the branches and remain on the tree throughout the year.

The flowers are large with an unusual form, similar in appearance to those of the related Matisia species, with turned-back petals and prominent, protruding stamens and pistil. They are born singularly or in pairs and are followed by oval or pear-shaped fruit up to 20 cm (8 in) long, with a thick, leathery shell becoming brown when ripe. The shell protects soft, pale yellow pulp embedded with rows of large, hairy seed.

Use

The fruit pulp is edible and is mostly eaten fresh out-of-hand, with descriptions of its edible qualities varying from custard-like to mealy and with an agreeable sweetness and flavour lying somewhere between banana and apple. It is only sparingly cultivated in its native range, with the majority of fruit collected from wild forests or trees deliberately left standing in cleared-forest farming plots, a common sight on the outskirts of townships such as Quibdó and Nuquí­, in Colombia.

Climate

Grows naturally in very humid tropical lowland to mid-elevation climates, generally areas with annual lows of 19 to 25°C, annual highs of 27 to 35°C, annual rainfall of 1500 to 8000 mm and a dry season of 2 months or less.

Growing

New plants are usually started from seed, which germinate readily. Almirajo is commonly associated with Borojó (Borojoa patinoi) in its natural habitat, which performs best on free-draining clay and loam soils of an acid to neutral nature, generally with a pH of 4.5 to 7.0, and on sites with filtered sun or partial sun to light shade. It has poor tolerance to drought but good tolerance to seasonal flooding.

Problem features

Tree-dwelling, raccoon-like animals in its native range, know locally as 'Cusumbo', eat the fruit and, it is likely, disperse the seed. The fact that both the fruit and seed are large and require a large animal for their dispersal makes it unlikely that Almirajo would develop into a problem weed elsewhere.

Books

• Leon, J & Hernandez Bermejo, J. Esteban & Programma Ethnobotanica 92. 1994, Neglected crops : 1492 from a different perspective, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome

• Martin, F. M., et al. 1987, Perennial edible fruits of the tropics : an inventory, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington, D.C.