Tropical fruit tree seeds

[Walt]

Back in October some time a lady who moved up here to Lake Placid, Florida, (from Miami) gave me a bag full of assorted seeds she said were off of tropical fruit trees. All the seeds were mixed together in one plastic grocery store bag. She grabed some seeds and started telling me what each one was but it just went in one ear and out the other. I haven't seen this lady since then, so I can't ask her again what seeds were what. I later sorted the seeds into bags of like kind. About a month later I sowed most of seeds in big community pots, and only plan to keep a few of each when and if they germinate.

Before sowing, all of the seeds that had an outer shell on them (most outer shells were split to where you could see the seed inside) I removed.

I was wondering if anyone here might be able to recognize any of these seeds. If not, I will just have to wait until some of each type germinate and develop normal leaves. Then I can post photos of them for possible I.D.

[aussiearoids]

walt , very few tropical seeds have any sort of long term viability , and I could see dried out unviable seeds in your pics . Large ones top row 2nd right look to be canistel or mammay sapote , as well as small black lychee btw no one grows lychee seed as its always marcotted .

[Xenon]

I think the round black seed is a longan(lychee seeds tend to be longer) and the fourth seed on the top may be rambutan? The third seed on the bottom might be a date?

Jonathan

Edited November 28, 2010 by Xenon

[ariscott]

Yes... the round black seed is longan.

Regards, Ari

[Cindy Adair]

walt , very few tropical seeds have any sort of long term viability , and I could see dried out unviable seeds in your pics . Large ones top row 2nd right look to be canistel or mammay sapote , as well as small black lychee btw no one grows lychee seed as its always marcotted .

I had the same 2 guesses for the largest brown seed. Not sure about any of the rest.

[fastfeat]

Upper right (large, whitish) could be "Spanish lime" (Melicoccus bijugatus). It's been awhile since I've spitted out any though...

[Walt]

Thanks to all for your replies. All but one of those biggest seeds were rotten by the time I got around to sowing them. Now that we are moving into winter I don't know how long it might take to see some germination (if in fact any of the seeds are viable). If any do germinate I will post photo on this thread. If no of the seeds germinate, no loss to me since the seeds were free. I will just use the potting soil to step up in pot size some of my other plants and palms.

[Alan_Tampa]

The biggest looks like mamey sapote, the shriveled up one below that is lychee (no good at this point I think), the one everyone said is longan is.

The one below the longan might be black sapote.

That's all I got. I do better with these things in person.

Alan

[Alan_Tampa]

That one on the right looks familiar but I cant place it. I can remember seeing that thing somewhere! Also, the one on far bottom left might be miracle fruit, usually darker but a little variable and they tend to lighten up as they dry. The upper left, and bottom far right both look like something to me too. At one time I messed around with a lot of seeds. Wait, upper left might be jakfruit! Actually pretty sure it is

Alan

[Alan_Tampa]

This is making me nuts. I've seen every one of these stupid seeds. Now I won't be able to sleep! That far right top might be white sapote, I looked up the seeds online and they look brown but I know I've spit the damn things out white from my trees. Might be a seed coating. Or I could be nuts.

Alan

[Walt]

This is making me nuts. I've seen every one of these stupid seeds. Now I won't be able to sleep! That far right top might be white sapote, I looked up the seeds online and they look brown but I know I've spit the damn things out white from my trees. Might be a seed coating. Or I could be nuts.

Alan

Alan, I believe you are mostly correct. I now seem to recall the lady did say some seeds were Jakfruit and some of the other seeds you (and others) said. I now remember telling the lady I had a jakfruit. This lady is originally from Colombia, S.A., but moved to the US, became naturalized, and lived in Miami before moving up here. She loves many varieties of tropical fruit. She's in the Highlands County Extension Office master gardener program, as I am. That's where I met her, but I only see her maybe every couple of months or so. The first time I met her we discussed the fact that we both liked certain tropical fruits. The next time I saw her (at the master gardener plant sale to the general public) she brought me the bag of fruit seeds. That was in mid October and I haven't seen her since then.

BTW, I remember once you posted photos of your jakfruit trees that went over the roof of your house. My small jakefruit got frozen back to its roots. It's only about 4 feet (or slightly more) tall now.

[Alan_Tampa]

My jakfruit tree survived the january 2010 freeze of death. We had frozen puddles!

It is now about 8 feet or so and coming back strong. I am getting smudge pots for this winter, this covering crap is spotty at best.

Alan

[Walt]

My jakfruit tree survived the january 2010 freeze of death. We had frozen puddles!

It is now about 8 feet or so and coming back strong. I am getting smudge pots for this winter, this covering crap is spotty at best.

Alan

Last January's freezes (12 consecutive days of below normal highs and lows) wreaked havoc on most of my palms and plants. I'm still trying to assess how it differed from myraid winters past. I've experienced lower nighttime temperatures but never so many below average temperatures consecutively. Many coconut palms near lakes that never get damaged in normal winter radiational freezes were killed or severely hurt by this past winter. I can only surmise that soil temperatures were much lower, coupled by the below normal air temperatures due to the lake waters cooling down after so many days of cold.

[Alan_Tampa]

I'm still iffy in that one I said white sapote on. I know that seed shape and color but I'm starting to doubt it now. It must be something else.

Alan