Theobroma angustifolium

[Cindy Adair]

I had thought this tree was cupuassu or Theobroma grandiflorum which I have elsewhere. However now that I see the flowers it is clearly T. angustifolium also called monkey cacao.

Learned something already today and hope the seeds are ripe!

Compare next to a cacao pod:

[Pedro 65]

Excellent Cindy, wonder if its cold hardier than Grandiflorum ? which is a no go here.

Pete

[Cindy Adair]

Sorry no idea about cold hardiness.

I did just cut open the pod and the pulp is sweet and tasty and the 17 seeds look ripe! I love to start seeds so will plant them all!

I understand they germinate quickly like cacao but won't wait to be shipped, sorry.

[Pedro 65]

Sorry no idea about cold hardiness.

I did just cut open the pod and the pulp is sweet and tasty and the 17 seeds look ripe! I love to start seeds so will plant them all!image.jpg

I understand they germinate quickly like cacao but won't wait to be shipped, sorry.

All good Cindy, we have plenty of health outlets selling Cacao, I like it with a little coconut sugar or even panella

Pete

[Cindy Adair]

Fast forward from 2015 and I have two trees on my second and forever farm and just harvested the first pod. 
 

From seeing the photo I took 9 years ago I see that the pods are ripe at a green color.
 

This pod was high up and who knows how long it was there before I spotted it. 
 

Anyway I needed someone to catch the pod when I climbed the slope and cut it as the pod is firmly attached like it’s relative cacao and I did not want to harm the tree. 
 

With a neighbor on level ground with a basket fruit picker I cut it with a bit of branch for the photo. 
 

I hit the pod against the edge of my concrete porch and it cracked open avoiding the chance of cutting any seeds with a knife. 
 

No bad odor and I tasted a tiny bit of pulp but no more as it was clearly past its prime. 
 

However the 16 seeds looked fine and similar to cacao only a bit more rounded?

I put them in a bowl with water after removing a little bit of pulp and noted that they all floated.

I did not recall that from before and was puzzled as they really looked like good seeds to me. 

I know some species are water spread and this the seeds float but not much information out there about this tree.

Then when I went back to thoroughly remove the firmly attached fur like pulp (as I do with cacao) to get rapid germination I noticed they had all germinated only about 6 hours later, still floating. 

The sun was setting so a quick walk to my potting area to get them into individual pots ASAP!
 

I had more of the yellow flowers this year so will try to pay better attention looking for pods!

It will be interesting to see how quickly leaves emerge as cacao seedlings are very quick here. 
 

I will post photos here.

Another reminder to us all not to be too quick to discard floating seeds!

Anybody growing this tree?

[epiphyte]

the seeds of Dovyalis hebecarpa i recently processed all floated, but they are all viable, based on previous sowing experience.  let's trade!?  haha.  jk, that wouldn't be a good deal for you.  the fruit is fun but nearly too sour to eat.  dovyalis caffra is sweeter but still pretty sour.  

a guy on youtube i regularly watch, florida natural farming, lives in vero beach and has fruit forming on his cacao tree.  he's got an impressive collection of garcinias and other rare fruit trees.  

how many garcinias do you grow?  how many have you tasted?  i've only tasted mangosteen but really want to taste the achacha and luc's garcinia.  i grow them and several other varieties but they are ridiculously slow.  i'm trying an experiment where i surround potted lemon drop garcinia seedlings with nitrogen fixers.  got the idea from inga alley cropping.  

[Cindy Adair]

Interesting about the Dovyalis seed floating!
 

I got spooked a few years ago when I mailed an intact cacao pod as a gift to someone on PT in CA. 
 

Cacao pods at least at that time were allowed to be taken out of PR on an airplane to anywhere in the US as long as they are declared at the airport USDA station.
 

Anyway I got a phone call from some postmaster in CA saying they destroyed it because I was breaking CA rules although no bugs were found. 
 

As to Garcinias I have mangosteen, achachairu, and two other unnamed gift Garcinia trees. Lemon drop is pretty and OK to eat, but achachairu and mangosteen are excellent!

Rambutan and Pulasan and Rollinia and cashew and many other edibles grow well here, but the entire Theobroma genus holds a special place in my heart.

 

 

 

[epiphyte]

ca rules are the worst.  they are why we can't have nice things.  

i'm so envious that you have a fruiting achacha!  last year i grafted scions of luc's garcinia onto my achacha.  one of the scions looks like it is starting to grow.  

ever tried making any theobroma crosses?  

"In general, the species which produce hybrid progenies, or at least hybrid seeds, can be grafted successfully onto each other.  Vice versa, where the interspecific grafts die off, hybridization is usually impossible." - George Addison and Rosendo Tavares, Hybridization and Grafting in Species of Theobroma Which Occur in Amazonia

i tried grafting black sapote onto a fuyu persimmon but it didn't work.  i also failed to graft a wax apple onto a rose apple.  right now i'm trying to graft a pitomba and a pitangatuba onto a pitanga.  

[Cindy Adair]

No, I have done no grafting and the only pollinating I have done so far is with vanilla orchids. 
 

Right now not enough hours in the day!