Clusters of starry flowers later become bizarre fruits, which are usually oval in shape and at first green before turning yellow then almost white as they ripen, with a vague resemblance in shape to truffles and with a strong smell and sometimes bitter taste. This unusual tree from the coffee family has a native range extending through south east Asia and Australasia. One of the many uses for Morinda citrifolia is for its medicinal properties, in fact, for many cultures in Burma and Australia this fruit is a vital part of their diet. Polynesian healer used this plant for thousands of years to prepare effective remedies to various health challenges. In addition, the bark produces a brownish-purplish dye for batik-makin dyeing. In a study in Costa Rica, looking at its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects, it reduced inflammation in rats significantly due to the presence of flavonoids, coumarins, iridoids and vitamin C! We cannot guarantee these effects in humans though........ ... Learn More

Carica Papaya, the Papaya, Pawpaw or Fruta Bomba, is a fruit tree that comes from sub-humid tropical regions of South America and Central America, especially Mexico, where, in the open ground it often reaches up to 8 meters high and 4 meters wide. These trees can make extremely attractive specimens with palmed leaves when grown in a large pot indoors. The succulent yellow and green fruits, with yellow-orange pulp and weighing up to 1kg, grow attached to the trunk. Although there are now hybrids that can have both sexes, the male trees have cream flowers whilst the female trees have white-yellowish flowers. ... Learn More

These new, rare and absolutely delightful, small Central American fruits look like tiny watermelons but taste of cucumber with a hint of citrus fruit. They can be grown like regular cucumbers and can be trained up canes or wires but are quite pest resistant, hardy enough to grow well outside, drought resistant and contain male and female flowers. Pick the fruit when still firm to the touch. ... Learn More

Clusters of beautiful, deepest blood-red flowers bloom from the trunk, often in great number toward the bottom of the tree. These are followed by impressive clumps of attractive, slightly multi-lobed, oblong fruits, which have a pale green waxy skin, and crunchy flesh, very similar to the star fruit, a single tree often producing hundreds and hundreds of fruits. This is essentially a tropical tree, less resistant to cold than the carambola, in Florida, where it is an occasional curiosity, it prefers protection from wind and cold. It has countless other uses, including being used either curried, or added as a souring agent for the common Filipino dish sinigang. The uncooked bilimbi is often prepared as relish, and served with rice and beans in Costa Rica. In the Far East where it originated, it is occasionally added to curry. The juice is also made into a cooling beverage, and in Indonesia it is added to some dishes as a substitute for tamarind or tomato. Additionally, the fruit can be preserved by pickling,which reduces its acidity, and finally the flowers can also be preserved in sugar. Some fruit! ... Learn More

The sizeable tasty yellow fruits are usually round or oval with thick skins, and can be eaten raw or are often bottled in syrup. The seeds are small, with thick flesh, a sweet scent, and a sweet or sour skin. There are two main groups of cultivars, duku and langsat and also mixed duku-langsat varieties. Some parts of the plant can be used in making traditional medicine. The bitter seeds can be pounded, and mixed with water to make a deworming and ulcer medication. The bark is also used to treat dysentery and malaria, and powdered can also be used to treat scorpion stings. In the Philippines the dried skin is burned as a mosquito repellent and also burned as incense. ... Learn More

Attractive, frilly flowers mature into guava fruits, which may be round, ovoid or pear-shaped, 2 to 4 inches long, and are commonly used in jams and juices. A series of tests on Indian fruits, including Himalayan apples and pomegranates, bananas from the south, and grapes from Maharashtra, found the guava, (exotic in Europe but a poor man's fruit in India), to be the ultimate super food with the highest concentration of antioxidants which protects against the cell damage that often ages skin! From seed, common guavas may bloom and set fruit in as little as 2 years. They are evergreen, faintly fragrant, and growth, in California for example, is rarely over 10 - 12 feet. The bark is smooth, mottled green or reddish brown and peels off in thin flakes to reveal the attractive "bony" aspect of its trunk. Guavas can bloom throughout the year in mild-winter areas, but the heaviest bloom occurs with the onset of warm weather in the spring. And if the tops of the trees are frozen, they usually sprout from the ground and are back in production in 2-3 years! ... Learn More

These vigorous climbing vines, with large exotic-looking leaves are easily grown to produce hundreds of sweet fruits ranging from the size of a small plum to the same size as a hen's egg! They can also make a useful screen to cover a dead tree, the new shoots produced each summer growing 10 to 15 feet or more. These seeds have been collected from self-fertile plants and should inherit this characteristic. Stems should be cut back during the winter months, and the rooting area mulched with manure ensuring a yearly abundance of fruit. As a rule we wait for the autumn and early winter to strip the vines of leaves before collecting the fruits, which by then have all ripened to full sweetness. Our vines here exist on a cold windy hilltop and have withstood nearly 30 years shrugging off countless severe frosts ... Learn More

Sometimes called Chinese oranges, these are the smallest and weirdest of the common citrus fruits and in a contrary turnaround from others from this group, the skin and zest are sweet, while the juicy insides are just not as sweet as many oranges, but not really sour. The size of very small plums, they are often used as an expensive winter treat and can be eaten whole, just as they are, (yes really, I have tried them), or cooked with sugar, spices or spirits to make sweet compôtes and aromatic chutneys. They grow true from the seeds but very few fruits actually contain good seeds, if any at all. ... Learn More

These attractive orange fruits have a refreshing citrus flavour, sometimes described as a combination of rhubarb and lime, and the bright green juice is often used as a drink. Naranjilla are quite delicate plants and need protection from strong winds and direct sunlight, in hot countries growing best in partial shade. The attractive, felted, large green leaves have a warm purply hue, but are covered in sharp prickles, the biggest ones hidden beneath the leaves. Solanum quitoense is native to South America where it is often found at quite high altitudes, but in cultivation, in cooler climes, it likes a sunny location, and to be kept warm during winter with minimum temperature of 7C/45F. ... Learn More

The gorgeous round fruits of the Melon pear are cream skinned with purple streaks and have deliciously sweet and juicy flesh which is a succulent mixture of honeydew melon and cucumber. It is grown in a manner similar to its relatives such as the tomato, although it grows naturally upright by habit, and can thus be grown as a free-standing bush. Supports are sometimes used to keep the heavy crop of fruit from pulling the plant down. It has a fast growth rate, bearing fruit within 4 to 6 months after planting, and seeds are rarely produced in the UK. Although it is strictly a perennial, making a sizeable shrub, it is often cultivated as an annual, the attractive fruit often being seen in markets in Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Chile. ... Learn More

These lovely fruits need no description, being one of the healthiest foods you can eat, providing roughage as well as being sweet and juicy, so people in warmer countries can soon have a long-lived fruit tree in their garden! These plants also make attractive indoor container plants for growers in colder climates. ... Learn More

Usually a pale green to yellow when ripe, this amazing fruit is much larger than a grapefruit, with sweet flesh and thick spongy rind. By far the largest citrus in the world, the pummelo can reach 12" in diameter. Similar in appearance to a large grapefruit, it is native to South and Southeast Asia and is a natural citrus fruit, not a hybrid, and is indeed one of the original citrus species from which the rest of cultivated citrus were produced by hybridisation. The pummelo tree itself bears most attractive white flowers and generally has a somewhat crooked trunk and low, irregular branches. Botanists amongst you may be interested in its large number of names worldwide which are appended below...... Chinese grapefruit, Assamese: ৰবাব টেঙা robab tenga • Bengali: বাতাবি লেবু batabi lebu, ছোলঙ্গ cholanga, জাম্বুরা লেবু jambura lebu • Gujarati: પપનસ papanas • Hindi: बतावीनीम्बू batawi-nimbu, चकोतरा Chakotara, पपरमास papar-mas • Kannada: ಚಕೋತ ಹಣ್ಣು cakota hannu • Konkani: तॉरंद toranda • Malayalam: കമ്പിളിനാരങ്ങ kampilinaranna • Manipuri: ꯅꯣꯕꯥꯕ নোবাব Nobab • Marathi: बंपारा bampara, चकोत्रा cakotra, पपन्नस papannasa • Mizo: kamalo • Oriya: ବାତାପି batapi • Sanskrit: करुण karuna, मल्लिकापुष्प mallikapuspa • Tamil: மெதுக்கு metukku, பம்பளிமாசு pampalimacu, பொம்மாசு pommacu • Telugu: పంపరపనస pamparapanasa • Urdu: چکوتره Chakotara ... Learn More

The "Custard apple tree" or Graviola is native to the Caribbean and Central America but is now widely cultivated in tropical climates throughout the world. From bright yellow flowers grow dark green, prickly fruits with soft bristles, which are egg-shaped and up to 30 centimetres long. The firm, white, tasty, juicy flesh is aromatic and is eaten and used as an ingredient in many foods and beverages, and processed soursop is widely available as a concentrate. In addition this is also one of the most commonly used medicinal plants in the Caribbean, with almost miraculous healing properties attributed to it. ... Learn More

Sweet, spiky-shelled, lychee-like fruits are produced twice a year, yielding crops in August and January. Growing seasons vary, however, in all of the tropical countries where it flourishes. Truly tropical, Rambutan trees love warm, humid climates, but also make perfect potted plants for indoors, although for non-tropical areas they can cope with temperatures down to 10 °C in the open. They are grown commercially within 12–15° of the equator where they do best in deep soil, clay loam or sandy loam rich in organic matter, and thrive on hilly terrain as they require good drainage. Fresh seeds and rarely available. ... Learn More

Well-known in the tropics and hotter countries, this herbaceous vine is grown for its edible fruit, which is predominantly used as a vegetable. It is known from cultivation only, and its large size, compared to closely related wild species, suggests that it is a fully domesticated crop going back for many centuries, evidence coming from ancient Peruvian ceramics depicting the fruits. The fully grown but still immature fruits are usually eaten cooked, as well as use in salads and pickles. ... Learn More