i6o 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
lower temperatures than are found below 
a line drawn across the State through 
Punta Gorda in DeSoto county. 
Aberia or the Kei or Rai Apple is the 
fruit of a spiny plant grown as a hedge 
in southern Florida and it tastes some¬ 
what like the cranberry and serves a like 
purpose. 
The Ananas sativus or Pineapple is 
probably the finest fruit bearing plant 
that thrives in Florida but to get it at its 
best, it should be cut from the plant dur¬ 
ing the summer, allowing the summer 
suns to do the mellowing of this fruit 
right on the plant. 
This fruit matures at any time of the 
year, but the summer apple is the sweet 
one. There are half a dozen varieties, 
but the smooth Cayenne seems to be the 
one with the greatest merits. 
Some of these reach a great size and 
often weigh as much as 15 pounds. The 
pineapple fruits in from 18 to 24 months 
after the suckers are planted and may be 
grown as far north in the state as freezing 
temperatures are not found, but if arti¬ 
ficial heat is provided they may be grown 
north of Orlando. 
The Averrhoa, one species of which 
is known as the Carambola Tree and an¬ 
other as the Cucumber Tree are native in 
India and China, but may be grown in 
lower Florida. The half grown fruits 
are made into pickles and the mature 
ones can be preserved. The tree grows 
from 20 to 30 feet high. 
Antidesma bunius is a quick-growing 
small tree bearing small acid berries that 
can be preserved and in the country where 
it is native, the fiber of the bark is also 
used. 
The Anonas comprise somewhere near 
50 small trees and shrubs that are ex¬ 
tensively planted in tropical and sub-trop¬ 
ical countries, for their delicious fruits 
or their ornamental appearance. Com¬ 
mon names for some of the members of 
this family are Custard Apple, Sour Sop, 
Pond Apple, Mamon, Alligator or Mon¬ 
key Apple, Cerimoya, Jamaica Apple, and 
Sweet Sop or Sugar Apple. 
So great a difference exists in the pe¬ 
culiar characteristics of these various 
fruits that this family alone could furn¬ 
ish half a dozen excellent specimens for 
the hundred different fruits in a tropical 
orchard. These fruits are highly prized 
by the natives in the countries where they 
are indigenous but it sometimes takes a 
little cultivation of the taste to make a 
Floridian appreciate their good qualities. 
It very rarely happens that a stranger likes 
the Guava on his first introduction to it, 
but time changes his opinion of it almost 
invariably. 
The Sour Sop makes a most refreshing 
sherbet on a warm day and the Custard 
Apple which produces two crops a year, 
is quite as pleasant eating as its name 
might indicate when one gets well ac¬ 
quainted with it. 
The Artocarpus incisa, is a very hand¬ 
some tree bearing one of the Breadfruits 
of the South Seas. The variety “Integri- 
folia” is the Jack Fruit Tree. 
Adansonia digitata is the Bacbab Tree, 
whose trunk has been known to reach a 
diameter of 30 feet. Its fruit is called 
“Monkey Bread.” 
The Banana or Musa is one of the most 
desirable of all sub-tropical fruit plants to 
cultivate, particularly for its early fruit- 
