Plinia phitrantha
(Kiaersk.) Sobral
Jacoticana costada
(c) Marcio Santos Ferreira, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Marcio Santos Ferreira
(c) Geovane Siqueira, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
(c) Geovane Siqueira, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
What to Eat
Edible parts: Fruit
The fruit are eaten fresh and used for making jellies.
Where to Find It
A tropical plant. It grows in humid lower mountain forests in Brazil.
Brazil*, South America,
How to Identify
A small tree. It loses many leaves during the year. It grows 4-7 m tall. The leaves are papery and 4-14 cm long. There are hairs underneath the leaf. The flowers are heaped in clusters along the trunk and old leafless branches. They have scale like bracts. The fruit are round and ribbed. They are dark red and have a smooth pulp.
How to Grow
Plants are grown from seed. The seeds are collected from ripe fruit that have been allowed to partly decompose in plastic bags and removed from the pulp under running water. Seeds need to be planted fresh. Seedlings emerge in 40-50 days.
Propagation: Seed - it has a short viability and so is best sown as soon as it is ripe. Sow in a semi-shaded position in a nursery seedbed. Germination rate, even of fresh seed, is usually below 50%, with the seed sprouting within 25 - 35 days. The seedlings grow quite slowly.
Other Uses
The wood is straight-grained, coarse-textured, moderately heavy with little resistance to wood-eating organisms. It is only used for fuel and to make charcoal.
Wikipedia
Source ↗Plinia phitrantha, commonly known as jaboticaba branca (white jaboticaba) or ibatinga (Tupi-Guarani for white fruit), is a species of plant in the family Myrtaceae. It is endemic to the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais in south-eastern Brazil. The tree grows to between 2 and 7 metres tall, and produces edible fruit, between 10 and 25mm in diameter, which is green in colour due to a lack of anthocyanins in the skin.
Production
Plants grow slowly.
Other Information
The tree is grown in home gardens.
Names & Synonyms
Jaboticaba branca-vinho
References (2)
- Lorenzi, H., Bacher, L., Lacerda, M. & Sartori, S., 2006, Brazilian Fruits & Cultivated Exotics. Sao Paulo, Instituto Plantarum de Estuados da Flora Ltda. p 230 (As Myrciaria phitrantha)
- Lorenzi, H., 2009, Brazilian Trees. A Guide to the Identification and Cultivation of Brazilian Native Trees. Instituto Plantarum de Estuados da Flora Ltda. Vol. 3 p 270 (As Myrciaria phitrantha)
