AGRICULTURAL BULLETIN 



OF THE 



STRAIT'S 



AND 



FEDERATED MALAY STATES, 



No. 12.] OCTOBER, 1902. [Vol. i. 



FRUITS OF THE MALAY PENINSULA,— Continued, 



Rosacea. 



The Apple, Pear, Blackberry, Strawberry and Loquat have all 

 been tried in the Straits, and most of them grow moderately well, 

 and flowered. None except the Apple have produced fruit worth 

 eating. A few Apples have been grown on Penang Hill, at an 

 altitude of about 2,000 feet, but the amount of fruit produced does 

 not offer any encouragement to gardeners. 



Rubus moluccunus, the common wild raspberry of our open coun- 

 try, produces fruit consisting of a very few orange coloured flavour- 

 less drupelets and is not worth'eating. 



R. rosaefoiius not rare in the hill districts with white flowers, 

 and good sized red fruit is more worth attention. The fruit resem- 

 bles that of an ordinary raspberry but is taller in proportion to its 

 breadth, the flavour is very inferior to a cultivated raspberry, but 

 it is well worth growing and eating. It will grow in the plains as 

 well as the hills, and is raised from seed. The fruit is good either 

 raw or made into a tart. 



R. lasiocarpus, Sm., has been cultivated successfully on Penang 

 Hill. It is a handsome plant with silvery grey stems, leaves white 

 underneath, and large purple fruit. It is propagated by layers. 

 The fruit is abundantly produced and is quite worth eating. In 

 India whence it was obtained, FlRMlNGER describes it as similar 

 in flavour to the common English Blackberry but vastly superior 

 and says that by judicious cultivation it might be rendered very 

 productive. It might well be cultivated in our hill districts. 



Par -murium nitidum, Hook. fil. A medium sized tree scattered 

 over the Peninsula and abundant in Penang, bears small round 

 sweet drupes which are eaten by natives and children, but are too 

 small to be worth eating. 



Chrysobalanus Icaco. The Coco-plum of South America, is a 

 large shrub of rapid growth which has long been cultivated in 

 Singapore. The fruit is globular about an inch through rose pink 

 with a bloom like that of a plum on it. The flesh is abundant and 

 white rather pithy, and slightly sweet and astringent, otherwise 

 tasteless. It is a pretty fruit but not worth eating. 



