158 



The Journal of Heredity 



outer integument or skin is thin: in 

 some varieties it adheres closely to the 

 flesh, even after the fruit has been 

 boiled, while in others it can be peeled 

 readily from the boiled fruit. The 

 character of the flesh is not easih' 

 described: it is dry, mealy, yet firm in 

 texture, and pale orange to yellow in 

 color. The single seed, from which the 

 flesh separates very readily after the 

 fruit has been boiled, is conical, some- 

 what angular in outline, about three- 

 quarters of an inch long, black, with 

 a thin but hard shell enclosing a white 

 kernel resembling that of the coconut in 

 character. 



COMPOSITION AND FOOD VALUE 



In the following table the chemical 

 composition of the pejibaye is com- 

 pared with that of several other tropi- 

 cal fruits of high food-value. ^ 



Jose de Costa Rica, 

 following result: 



Thi 



s ga\'e 



the 



The energy-producing value of the 

 fruits shown in the above table is also 

 a matter of interest. That of the 

 guapinol, as expressed in calories, is 

 1564; that of the pejibaye is 1096; that 

 of the avocado, as determined by 

 numerous analyses made at the Univer- 

 sity of California, varies according to 

 the variety and the maturity of the 

 fruit, from 600 to 1,300, with an 

 average of approximately 1,000; while 

 that of the banana is 459. 



Of the several fruits here considered, 

 the guapinol has the highest food value. 

 Anyone familiar with this species, 

 however, will recognize instantly that 



Table 1. 



Chemic.\l Composition of Pejibaye Compared with Other Tropical 

 Fruits 



It will be noted that the figures 

 given above for the pejibaye refer to the 

 boiled fruit. In r)rder to determine 

 the amounts of the principal energy- 

 yielding constituents in the ripe, un- 

 cooked fruit, one r)f the writers has 

 made an analysis of such fruit, irndcr 

 the direction of Dr. M it hand of San 



its fruit cannot be ct.nsidertd of 

 economic importance. The guapinol 

 is a leguminous tree common in tropical 

 America: its fruit is a thick, short, 

 hard pcd, enclosing se^■eral large seeds 

 and a thin la>tr of dry, \elIowish pulp 

 of a pctuliar ar.d not \xx\ agreeable 

 (dor ar.d fla^(.r. It n:a\-, in short, be 



' The data concerning the guajjinol, pt-jihayc, and banana arc from a table published by F. 

 Sancho, in the Anales del Hospital <ic- San Juan de Dios (Costa Rica), 1917. Those for the three 

 varieties of avocado are from the Manual of Tropical and Subtropical Fruits, by Wilson Popenoe 

 (Macmillan and Co., 1920). 



