154 MANUAL OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS 



Gage plum. It is oval, about H inches in length, and greenish 

 yellow in color. The skin is thicker than that of a plum, and 

 quite tough. The flavor of the soft, melting, almost liquid flesh 

 is suggestive of a sweet orange. If eaten before it is fully 

 ripe, the fruit is slightly acid. The seed is oblong and about f 

 inch in length. 



In its native home the imbu is eaten as a fresh fruit, and also 

 furnishes a popular jelly. It is used besides to make imbuzada, 

 a famous dessert of northern Brazil. This is prepared by 

 adding the juice of the fruit to boiled sweet milk. The mixture 

 is greenish white in color and when sweetened to taste is relished 

 by nearly every one. 



While the tree is susceptible to frost, it cannot be considered 

 strictly tropical. In south Florida young plants have with- 

 stood temperatures of 28 above zero without serious injury. 

 Little is known regarding its adaptability to various soils and 

 alien climates. While the wild trees are found on very dry soil 

 in a region of little rainfall, it is possible that other conditions 

 will prove suitable. A few bearing trees were seen by the writer 

 in the city of Bahia, Brazil, where the humidity is great and the 

 annual rainfall about 60 inches. In south Florida it has been 

 tried at Miami, but has not done well. Its failure there has 

 been attributed to the large amount of lime contained in the 

 soil, but it is not certainly known that this is the limiting 

 factor. The soil on the Brazilian catingas is a gravelly loam, 

 sometimes mixed with clay, sometimes sandy. 



Fruit from the wild trees varies in size, color, and quality. 

 It should be easy to propagate the best seedlings by cuttings ; 

 at least, other species of Spondias are propagated in this way. 

 Mature wood is used. At Miami, Florida, the imbu has been 

 inarched on the ambarella (see below) . Seeds are easily induced 

 to grow, and should be germinated in flats or boxes of light soil. 



