Category: Biodiversity

This one has a funny footnote attached to it, since planting it is also how I discovered I’d been miscounting my own daily planting streak for weeks. The Basics Sacred bali bamboo is Schizostachyum brachycladum, yellow form, an ornamental tropical bamboo. Origin and Habitat Native to Indonesia, where according to a friend it’s commonly planted…

Bakul is one of several sacred trees from India that have ended up here, and this one comes with a genuinely wild bit of religious history attached. The Basics Bakul, Mimusops elengi, also called bullet wood or Spanish cherry, is native to India and tropical Southeast Asia. Origin and Habitat Native across India and tropical…

This one’s an honest wildcard, a volunteer seedling avocado rather than a grafted, known variety, so I genuinely don’t know what we’re going to get from it, or from any of the others like it around the property. The Basics Avocado, Persea americana, is native to the highlands of south-central Mexico and neighboring parts of…

Arazá has a bit of a full circle story here, since it was the very first tree I planted when this whole project started, and I came back to it again in the middle of the year. The Basics Arazá, also called araçá-boi, Eugenia stipitata, comes from the Western Amazon rainforest and is related to…

Atom might be the rarest thing we grow here, rare enough that Joe told me I could be the first person to ever put one in the ground in Hawai’i. The Basics Atom, also called balsam tree, Dacryodes macrophylla, is native to the tropical rainforests of Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. Origin and Habitat Central…

Planted this one early in the morning on my own birthday, which felt like a fitting way to start the day. The Basics Almirajo is a large-ish tree that’s related to both cacao and durian, which puts it in interesting company even before you factor in the fruit. Origin and Habitat It comes from the…

Aguaí guaçú might be the least documented tree in the entire food forest, and that’s exactly what makes it interesting to me. The Basics Aguaí guaçú, Pouteria gardneriana, is related to eggfruit, abiu, and mamey sapote, all in the Sapotaceae family, and it’s also a near neighbor of our abiurana. Origin and Habitat It’s from…

Ackee is one of the stranger trees here in that the same fruit can be a national dish or a poisoning depending entirely on timing. The Basics Ackee, Blighia sapida, is originally from West Africa and was carried to Jamaica on slave ships, where it eventually became the national fruit. Origin and Habitat West African…

Achachairu is one of those trees where the name alone was enough to sell me on it before I even knew what the fruit tasted like. The Basics Achachairu, Garcinia humilis, sometimes just called achacha, is native to the Bolivian Amazon basin and is a close relative of mangosteen, same genus and everything. Origin and…

Called the Queen of all flowering trees, and it’s genuinely one of the most beautiful tropical trees out there, right up there with our rainbow shower tree and jacaranda in the just-for-looks category. The Basics Pride of Burma, Amherstia nobilis, is a tree in the legume family, Fabaceae. Origin and Habitat Native to Myanmar (Burma),…