Hussein wrote in message
Are the fruits edible or something then?

I've not seen one get but they are purported to be like dark
sausages.

From PFAF:

Fruit - raw[2, 105, 177]. Sweet but insipid[3]. The fruit has a
delicate flavour and a soft, juicy texture[K]. Lemon juice is
sometimes added to the fruit to enhance the flavour[183]. The bitter
skin of the fruit is fried and eaten[183]. The fruit is 5 - 10cm long
and up to 4m wide[200, 266].
Soft young shoots are used in salads or pickled[183].
The leaves are used as a tea substitute[105, 177, 183].

Also:
Plants are probably self-sterile[11, 182], if possible at least 2
plants should be grown, each from a different source.

(Those numbers in brackets refer to the publications which PFAF have
referenced).

They are so easy to propagate vegetatively but because of the
advice above, I recently got from another source an additional A.
quinata. Funny though. I don't know whether it's because it's
pubescent, but the leaves on the new one are not quinate bit trilobe
(is that a word?). Perhaps they inadvertently sent me one of the other
species.


So have you (or anyone else) tried to eat one of these fruits yet? I always
reserve judgement on fruit from descriptions in books etc, until I speak to
someone who has tasted it.

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.