SOME SUBTROPICAL FRUITS. 483 



good flavor; marmalade is made from its pulp, hence the name 

 Marmalade Plum. Grown in the West Indies and to some extent in 

 lower Florida. 



Melon Shrub; Pepino (Solanum muricatum) . An erect bushy 

 shrub with small narrow leaves. Fruit egg-shaped, four to six inches 

 long; color yellow, with streaks and splashes of violet-purple. Flesh 

 aromatic, tender, juicy, and in flavor fair to good, reminding one of 

 the tomato and melon. As with the tomato, it needs some education 

 of the palate to be relished for table use. Grown as an annual in 

 Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California, and can be grown in the 

 prairie States by starting the plants very early in pots. It bears the 

 second year from the seed, and the fruit ripens in successive crops for 

 several months in mild climates. Grown in Florida, and westward to 

 South California ; also grown under glass in the North. 



Melon Tree (Melon Papaw). This is known in tropical climates 

 as "melon zapote" (Carica papaya). In mild climates it forms a 

 tree with stem like a palm, and immense leaves near the top which 

 are often twenty-four inches across, palmately seven-lobed. Fruit 

 six to twelve inches long, and half as much in diameter, hanging from 

 the axils of the large leaves. As grown in California, Prof. Wickson 

 says: "It ripens its fruit the third year from seed the fruit being 

 pleasant to eat as one w r ould a muskmelon. The large fig-like leaves 

 and peculiar markings of the trunk make the tree a very striking ob- 

 ject." Grown in South Florida, near Brownsville, Texas, in South 

 Arizona, and in South California. 



Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo). A small tree planted for orna- 

 ment and for its fruits. The fruits are scarlet, warty, three-quarters 

 of an inch in diameter, and very agreeable in flavor; as it ripens 

 the fruits range through shades of yellow, orange, and deep red, and 

 contrast grandly with the glossy evergreen foliage. Grown from 

 Florida to South California, and it runs into two or three marked 

 varieties. 



Tamarind (Tamarindus Indica). One of the most beautiful and 

 useful of the tropical trees, with acacia-like foliage. It is grown 

 without protection in Southern Florida, near the mouth of the Rio 

 Grande in Texas, and in Southern California. Its thick fleshy pods 

 contain an acid pulp used for cooling drinks in hot climates over 

 the world. The pulp preserved without sugar by drying is used in 



