Tag: Plant Profile

Four seeds from a single fruit turned into four trees, three of which are still with us five years later, which is exactly the kind of gamble a dioecious species makes you take. The Basics Seashore mangosteen, Garcinia hombroniana (sometimes still sold under the older name Garcinia celebica), is a relative of true mangosteen in…

This is one of the strangest looking trees in the whole food forest once it starts producing, and it isn’t even something we can eat. The Basics Sausage tree, Kigelia africana, is a large tree in the family Bignoniaceae. Origin and Habitat Native to tropical Africa, where it grows across savanna and riverine woodland. What…

Julia was sold on this one before I ever was, one bite at a nursery on Oahu and she came home talking about it. The Basics Salak, Salacca zalacca, also called snake fruit, is an extremely thorny, short-stemmed clustering palm in the family Arecaceae, the same family as our queen palm and peach palm. Origin…

Rollinia might be the strangest looking fruit in the whole food forest, and that’s saying something given the company it keeps. The Basics Rollinia, Annona mucosa (also sold under the older name Rollinia deliciosa), also called biriba in Brazil, is a member of the custard apple family, Annonaceae. Origin and Habitat Native to the Amazon…

This is one of the few trees on the whole property that I planted purely because it’s beautiful, no fruit, no nuts, no future harvest at all, same as jacaranda. The Basics Rainbow shower tree, Cassia × nealiae, is a naturally occurring hybrid between golden shower (Cassia fistula) and pink and white shower (Cassia javanica),…

Five years in the ground and this thing is already one of the tallest trees on the whole property, closing in on 60 feet. The Basics Queensland maple, Flindersia brayleyana, isn’t a true maple at all, it’s actually in the citrus family, Rutaceae, named for its maple-like lobed leaves rather than any real relation. Origin…

This one didn’t go quite the way I planned, and that’s worth being honest about. The Basics Queen palm, Syagrus romanzoffiana, is a feather palm in the family Arecaceae, the same family as our salak and peach palm. Origin and Habitat Native to South America, mainly Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, where it grows in…

The name means ten cent flower, from the 1930s when a puakenikeni lei cost a dime, about what two loaves of bread ran at the time. The Basics Puakenikeni, Fagraea berteroana, is a fragrant flowering tree in the family Gentianaceae. Origin and Habitat Native to the Pacific Islands, widely planted in Hawaii as a beloved…

Kind of unruly, needs regular cutting back, but it’s doing its job while the real canopy trees get established. The Basics Pheasant wood is one of our nurse trees, grown for shade and structure rather than food. Origin and Habitat Grown here as a supporting, fast-growing tree rather than for its native range specifically. What…

You’d really want a Mediterranean or California climate for a great pomegranate, but a decent one beats not having one at all. The Basics Pomegranate, Punica granatum, is a shrub or small tree in the family Lythraceae. Origin and Habitat Native to the region stretching from Iran to northern India, where it’s adapted to hot,…