182 
is derived from the Tupi verb piter, to 
drink, and anga, odor or scent; one may 
assume, therefore, that the name was 
given in reference to the character- 
istically aromatic juice of the fruit. 
In other countries the culture of the 
pitanga is generally very limited. No 
references to its culture at Goa have 
been found in recent literature, but we 
may presume that it is still grown in 
that region. It is cultivated in northern 
India at the botanic garden of Sahar- 
anpur, and is offered in the catalog of 
this institution under the name of 
‘Brazil Cherry,” but the statement is 
made that it does not fruit abundantly 
in that climate. It is grown in Ceylon, 
where, according to Macmillan, it is 
called Goraka-Jambo. Tavares states 
that it is cultivated in China, but we 
can find no other authority for this. 
It seems quite probable that it may 
have been introduced in the Portuguese 
colony of Macao, near Canton, where 
the climate would probably be very 
favorable to its growth. It is said by 
Wilder, who calls it the “French 
Cherry,” to be a common garden plant 
in Hawaii. In French it is generally 
called cerise de Cayenne, or Cayenne- 
cherry; Dr. Trabut* states that it 
would rapidly become popular in Al- 
geria if it produced more abundantly, 
having been found to be quite hardy 
along the coast. Emile Sauvaigo,’® an- 
other French writer, states that it is 
the commonest tropical fruit cultivated 
in the vicinity of Algiers; he gives it the 
common name of cerise carrée as well 
as that applied by Trabut. In Cuba it 
is occasionally seen in gardens, and is 
called cereza de Cayena. Inthe United 
States its culture is limited to Florida 
and California, but it is grown very 
successfully in both these regions. In 
1887 P. W. Reasoner® wrote, ‘‘ The tree 
is quite frequently met with in Orange 
County and middle Florida, and is 
gaining in favor as a fruitbearing plant.” 
At the present time it is common in 
gardens along the East coast, especially 
The Journal of Heredity 
in the vicinity of Miami, where the 
fruit has recently commenced to appear 
in the market, and on the West coast 
from Fort Myers northward. After 
the plants have attained the requisite 
age they fruit abundantly, often pro- 
ducing two crops a year. 
In California the pitanga has never 
become so common as in Florida. It 
is, in fact, rare in California gardens, 
and undoubtedly worthy of much more 
extensive cultivation. Dr. Franceschi’ 
reported that it was growing in Monte- 
cito in 1895. In recent years quite a 
few plants have been disseminated by 
nurserymen in California. In the United 
States the name Surinam-cherry is much 
more common than pitanga, and is, in 
fact, the one generally used. 
HABITS OF GROWTH 
At Bahia, Brazil, the pitanga was 
found much more commonly as a hedge 
plant than in any other form, but such 
plants produce much less fruit than 
those allowed to develop naturally. 
The largest trees seen in Bahia, at the 
Roga Coronel in the suburb of Roma, 
were about 15 feet high, with trunks 
six inches in diameter. At Agua Com- 
prida, near Bahia, on the ranch of Col. 
Joao de Teive e Argollo, we found a 
magnificent specimen nearly 35 feet 
high, with a trunk 15 inches in diameter. 
These trees, in December, which is one 
of the spring months in Bahia, were 
loaded with their bright red fruits. 
Considerable variation was noted on 
different trees, in regard to quantity, 
shape, size and color of fruit. Dr. 
V. A. Argollo Ferrao, to whom we are 
indebted for invaluable assistance dur- 
ing our stay in Bahia, stated that he 
had frequently observed this varia- 
bility of individual trees, and suggested 
the possibility of improving the pitanga 
by careful selection of seeds. Bud 
selection would not be practicable at 
present, since seed propagation is the 
only method generally employed in 
Brazil. By planting seeds from trees 
4In Revue Horticole de l’Algerie, XII, p. 161, 1908. 
5 Les Cultures sur le Littoral de la Mediterranee, p. 207, Paris, 1913. 
6 Report on the Condition of Tropical and Semi-tropical Fruits in the United States in 1887, 
p. 25, Washington, 1891. 
7 Santa Barbara Exotic Flora, p. 33. 
Santa Barbara, Cal., 1895. 
