416 MANUAL OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS 



pale green in the immature fruit, becoming greenish yellow 

 and then brownish as ripening progresses. The fruit is divided 

 inside into many small cavities each containing a seed sur- 

 rounded by soft brownish pulp of pungent odor and aromatic 

 flavor somewhat suggesting the banana. Thomas Firminger 

 speaks rather discouragingly of this fruit. He says: "By 

 those who can manage to eat it, it is considered most delicious, 

 possessing the rich spicy flavor and scent of the melon, but to 

 such a powerful degree as to be quite unbearable to persons of 

 weak stomach, or to those unaccustomed to it." 



The tree grows wild in the mountains of India and is 

 ordinarily considered indigenous to that country. Alphonse 

 DeCandolle believed that its cultivation probably did not 

 antedate the Christian era. At the present day it is common 

 in many parts of India, particularly in lower Bengal, and 

 Macmillan observes that it has become semi-naturalized in 

 Ceylon. In the Malayan region it is a common fruit-tree. 

 The worthy Father Tavares states that it was introduced into 

 Brazil by the Portuguese about the middle of the seventeenth 

 century. It is now abundant in many parts of that country, 

 particularly about Bahia. William Harris 1 gives the following 

 account of its introduction into Jamaica : 



"It was amongst the plants found on board the French ship 

 bound from the Isle of Bourbon to Santo Domingo, which 

 was captured by Captain Marshall of H. M. S. Flora, one of 

 Lord Rodney's squadron, in June, 1782, and was sent to Mr. 

 Hinton East's garden in Gordon Town. It was again intro- 

 duced in the early part of 1793 when Captain Bligh of H. M. S. 

 Providence brought it with other plants from the island of 

 Timor in the Malay Archipelago. The tree is common all 

 over the island, and is naturalized in the Cockpit country." 



In Hawaii it is not abundant. It has never been a success 

 in California, the climate having proved too cold for it. In 

 1 Bull. Botanical Dept., 3, 1910. 



