| from the August 29, 2010 Newsletter issued from Hacienda
Chichen Resort beside Chichén Itzá Ruins, central Yucatán, MÉXICO STAR-APPLE FLOWERING Next to the Hacienda's bathroom the big Star-Apple tree, CHRYSOPHYLLUM CAINITO, with its five-inch-long (13 cm), evergreen leaves -- glossy green above and silky golden-brown below -- is flowering. Its leaves and 3/16ths-inch-long (4 mm) flowers are shown above. Besides being a very shapely, fair-sized tree (up to 50 feet, or 15 m) with unusually attractive leaves, the main thing about Star-Apples is their fruits, which are apple-sized, spherical, covered with a smooth purple or light green skin, and contain a translucent, whitish pulp with 3-8 shining seeds. And that flesh is very tasty. Star-Apple fruits were falling about a month ago, but they all hung too high to photograph, and the ones that fell were all half- eaten by Kinkajous, so I missed showing them to you. Still, the current flowers are worth looking at. You can see one much magnified below: |
| Books say that Star-Apple flowers have five corolla lobes and stamens but you can see
that this one, picked at random, bears seven of each. In the first photo you can make out
that there's a general mix of five-lobed, six-lobed and seven-lobed flowers in the
inflorescences. Well, Star-Apples have been cultivated for a long time and it often
happens among cultivars of long standing that genes get a bit scrambled and funny things
occur -- random spots on cattle, for instance, and flowers with seven corolla lobes. Another unusual thing about the blossom shown in the close-up is that its pollen-producing stamens arise opposite the corolla lobes, at their bases. Stamens in most flowers alternate with their corolla lobes. Also, it's a little unusual for stamens to simply arise from a corolla wall instead of beneath the ovary. However, having stamens exactly like these is a general feature of the family to which Star-Apples belong, the Sapodilla Family, the Sapotaceae. Other members of that family include the Chicozapote or Chicle tree, the Mamey, and Canistel, all trees producing large, delicious fruits much sought in tropical markets. Star-Apples are native tropical American trees planted widely throughout the Earth's tropics. |
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