Today I planted a balata, a big tree… Manilkara bidentata also known as ausubo. A tree which is believed to be from Puerto Rico. Joe dared me to plant this and of course I did it. It’s a slow growing tropical hardwood that can grow to 150 feet tall and can live over 300 to 400 years old. It is a shade tolerant tree, so I planted it more or less in the middle of the food forest where there is still room available in the canopy layer.
The yellow fruits are edible and the tree is a keystone species as it feeds the creatures responsible for dispersing seeds around the forest. To humans the fruit tastes agreeable, but is kind of dry and crumbly like an eggfruit.
The tree is also called bulletwood because it is a hardwood with a red heart. It is so hard that it sinks in water. It is superb wood for flooring and furniture, but is unfortunately one of the trees that’s actively being logged out of the Northern amazon forests.
In Guyana there was a ban on cutting down balata since 1895 because the tree is a source of a rubber like latex that was used as an outer coating for golf ball manufacturing. The balata balls were soft to hit and produced a higher spin rate when hit with an iron or a wedge. Greater flight control was achieved with balata coated balls which was a choice ball for early professional golfers. By the 1990s modern golf balls replaced balata balls completely with a urethane coating that produced the same softness as balata. The old laws established to protect the balata are now up in the air as these old growth trees are being felled and exported to fast growing countries in staggering numbers.
Originally posted on 2021-12-23, part of the daily planting journal behind Ha’a Chocolate’s food forest on Hawai’i Island.