Today I planted a ndea tree (pronounced n-day-ah) Nauclea xanthoxylon, which could be one of the tastiest fruits native to the wet tropics of the Congo. It usually likes to grow in swampy areas of the savannah. I got this tree from Joe who got it from Lukas. Since there isn’t a fruiting tree in Hawaii yet, Lukas says that ndea is supposed to taste like a creamy pineapple and that sounds pretty delicious! Its also a pretty wild cultivar so it still needs domestication. It’s related to coffee and noni and outside of Western Africa this fruit is still relatively unknown.
Lukas said that this tree wants to have really wet roots or else it may not fruit. I found a sunny and swampy spot where water from up hill always collects and can get pretty soggy. On average it rains about 118 inches per year (200 cm) here in Laupahoehoe so we may be in luck.
Originally posted on 2021-10-17, part of the daily planting journal behind Ha’a Chocolate’s food forest on Hawai’i Island.