I took this picture on a farm in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica and I have
no idea what the plant is. I don't have a picture of the whole plant,
just this fruit with some leaves. Anyone know it?

http://home.flash.net/~gallo/plant.jpg

Greg Galloway schreef
I took this picture on a farm in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica and I have
no idea what the plant is. I don't have a picture of the whole plant,
just this fruit with some leaves. Anyone know it?

http://home.flash.net/~gallo/plant.jpg

+ + +
No. Likely it belongs to the Lauraceae?
PvR

PS: nice picture!

"P van Rijckevorsel" wrote in message .. .
Greg Galloway schreef
I took this picture on a farm in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica and I have
no idea what the plant is. I don't have a picture of the whole plant,
just this fruit with some leaves. Anyone know it?

http://home.flash.net/~gallo/plant.jpg

+ + +
No. Likely it belongs to the Lauraceae?
PvR

PS: nice picture!

Thanks. I checked all the Lauraceae pics I could find on the net and
have still not identified it. They look really similar though.

I have a few more pics of plants and critters from CR if anyone wants
to see them. Bonus points for identifying the unidentified ones.

http://12.210.157.139/pics/crbio/

In article ,
[Greg Galloway] wrote...
"P van Rijckevorsel" wrote in message
news:o%5Ya.51703$0W
...
Greg Galloway schreef
I took this picture on a farm in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica and I have
no idea what the plant is. I don't have a picture of the whole plant,
just this fruit with some leaves. Anyone know it?

http://home.flash.net/~gallo/plant.jpg

+ + +
No. Likely it belongs to the Lauraceae?
PvR

PS: nice picture!

Thanks. I checked all the Lauraceae pics I could find on the net and
have still not identified it. They look really similar though.

Try _Morinda citrifolia_, family Rubiaceae.
If this ID is correct, those are flower buds,
not a fruit. [I think there should eventually
be many more flowers in a head, and much more fusion
of the flowers/fruits:

http://www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/b...es/mor_cit.jpg
http://farrer.riv.csu.edu.au/ASGAP/jpg1/m-citri.jpg
http://www.nybg.org/bsci/res/MORINDA.HTML
http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty...es/mor_cit.jpg
http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty...lowerFruit.htm
[scroll down]

So, maybe not a perfect match, but perhaps it's close?

I have a few more pics of plants and critters from CR if anyone wants
to see them. Bonus points for identifying the unidentified ones.

http://12.210.157.139/pics/crbio/

http://12.210.157.139/pics/crbio/flower.jpg -- Hymenocallis sp.
[Amaryllidaceae]

http://12.210.157.139/pics/crbio/flower1.jpg -- Aphelandra aurantiaca
[Acanthaceae]

http://12.210.157.139/pics/crbio/flower2.jpg -- Heliconia sp.
[Heliconiaceae]

http://12.210.157.139/pics/crbio/shampoo_ginger.jpg-- Zingiber spectabile
[cultivated; not a CR native] [Zingiberaceae]

http://12.210.157.139/pics/crbio/starfruit.jpg -- Averrhoa carambola
[Oxalidaceae]

http://12.210.157.139/pics/crbio/walking_palm.jpg -- Socratea or
Iriartea sp. [see earlier thread] [Arecaceae]

cheers

http://home.flash.net/~gallo/plant.jpg

+ + +
No. Likely it belongs to the Lauraceae?
PvR

PS: nice picture!

======
mel turner schreef
Try _Morinda citrifolia_, family Rubiaceae.
If this ID is correct, those are flower buds,
not a fruit. [I think there should eventually
be many more flowers in a head, and much more fusion
of the flowers/fruits:

http://www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/b...es/mor_cit.jpg
http://farrer.riv.csu.edu.au/ASGAP/jpg1/m-citri.jpg
http://www.nybg.org/bsci/res/MORINDA.HTML
http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty...es/mor_cit.jpg

http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty...lowerFruit.htm
[scroll down]

So, maybe not a perfect match, but perhaps it's close?

+ + +
I would like to agree, if only because a cultivated species is always more
likely than something local, but I don't believe so. Firstly all those knobs
are approximately the same size and shape, while all the flower buds in
pictures of Morinda citrifolia are always at different stages of
development. Secondly these knobs really don't look like flower buds (OK, I
cannot tell for sure).

I will also admit that the way of clustering is rather unlike most
Lauraceae, this is more reminiscent of Annonaceae (which this is not: the
leaves are opposite), but I would not preclude this occurring. Lauraceae are
irregular as concerns opposite leaves: some do, some don't.

So I will stick to my guess of this being one of the Lauraceae, readily
admitting this is far from sure.
PvR

http://home.flash.net/~gallo/plant.jpg

+ + +
No. Likely it belongs to the Lauraceae?
PvR

PS: nice picture!

======
mel turner schreef
Try _Morinda citrifolia_, family Rubiaceae.
If this ID is correct, those are flower buds,
not a fruit. [I think there should eventually
be many more flowers in a head, and much more fusion
of the flowers/fruits:

http://www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/b...es/mor_cit.jpg
http://farrer.riv.csu.edu.au/ASGAP/jpg1/m-citri.jpg
http://www.nybg.org/bsci/res/MORINDA.HTML
http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty...es/mor_cit.jpg

http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty...lowerFruit.htm
[scroll down]

So, maybe not a perfect match, but perhaps it's close?

+ + +
I would like to agree, if only because a cultivated species is always more
likely than something local, but I don't believe so. Firstly all those knobs
are approximately the same size and shape, while all the flower buds in
pictures of Morinda citrifolia are always at different stages of
development. Secondly these knobs really don't look like flower buds (OK, I
cannot tell for sure).

I will also admit that the way of clustering is rather unlike most
Lauraceae, this is more reminiscent of Annonaceae (which this is not: the
leaves are opposite), but I would not preclude this occurring. Lauraceae are
irregular as concerns opposite leaves: some do, some don't.

So I will stick to my guess of this being one of the Lauraceae, readily
admitting this is far from sure.
PvR

Actually, I think you (mel) might have it with the Morinda Citrifolia. The
"fruit" shown on the pages that you posted was present around the tree. I
guess I failed to make the association between the spiky ball on the tree
and other (I assume more mature) brainy looking clumps that were around. I
was told that it was originally imported, IIRC from some polynesian island,
to Costa Rica. It is locally called "Noni" and has been used by the nearby
BriBri tribe as a cure-all medicine. Apparently it has also caused a craze
in the health food / alternative medicine industries.

The owner of the farm did show me a ripe "fruit" and it was the most
malodorous clump of juice I ever had the misfortune to handle. It left a
disgusting smell on my hand that was very hard to wash away.

Thanks for the info everyone! Definitely take a trip to CR if you ever get a
chance. There is enough to see and do to keep any curious person busy for a
long time. Plus it is cheap and the beer is excellent.

Greg


"P van Rijckevorsel" wrote in message
...
http://home.flash.net/~gallo/plant.jpg

+ + +
No. Likely it belongs to the Lauraceae?
PvR

PS: nice picture!

======
mel turner schreef
Try _Morinda citrifolia_, family Rubiaceae.
If this ID is correct, those are flower buds,
not a fruit. [I think there should eventually
be many more flowers in a head, and much more fusion
of the flowers/fruits:

http://www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/b...es/mor_cit.jpg
http://farrer.riv.csu.edu.au/ASGAP/jpg1/m-citri.jpg
http://www.nybg.org/bsci/res/MORINDA.HTML
http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty...es/mor_cit.jpg


http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty...lowerFruit.htm
[scroll down]

So, maybe not a perfect match, but perhaps it's close?

+ + +
I would like to agree, if only because a cultivated species is always more
likely than something local, but I don't believe so. Firstly all those
knobs
are approximately the same size and shape, while all the flower buds in
pictures of Morinda citrifolia are always at different stages of
development. Secondly these knobs really don't look like flower buds (OK,
I
cannot tell for sure).

I will also admit that the way of clustering is rather unlike most
Lauraceae, this is more reminiscent of Annonaceae (which this is not: the
leaves are opposite), but I would not preclude this occurring. Lauraceae
are
irregular as concerns opposite leaves: some do, some don't.

So I will stick to my guess of this being one of the Lauraceae, readily
admitting this is far from sure.
PvR

OK, I concede. No point in quarreling with the evidence!
Glad you have it to name.
PvR


Greg G schreef
Actually, I think you (mel) might have it with the Morinda Citrifolia. The
"fruit" shown on the pages that you posted was present around the tree. I
guess I failed to make the association between the spiky ball on the tree
and other (I assume more mature) brainy looking clumps that were around. I
was told that it was originally imported, IIRC from some polynesian
island, to Costa Rica. It is locally called "Noni" and has been used by the
nearby BriBri tribe as a cure-all medicine. Apparently it has also caused a
craze in the health food / alternative medicine industries.

The owner of the farm did show me a ripe "fruit" and it was the most
malodorous clump of juice I ever had the misfortune to handle. It left a
disgusting smell on my hand that was very hard to wash away.

Thanks for the info everyone! Definitely take a trip to CR if you ever get
a chance. There is enough to see and do to keep any curious person busy for
a long time. Plus it is cheap and the beer is excellent.

Greg

In article ,
wrote...

OK, I concede. No point in quarreling with the evidence!
Glad you have it to name.
PvR

Well, you had me mostly convinced that it must be something else,
although I couldn't go along with the Lauraceae idea [I've
never seen any Lauraceae with heads anything like this, and few
if any with opposite leaves]. If those were fruits and not flower
buds, it obviously couldn't be Morinda or any other Rubiaceae, but
I still had no good ideas where else to start looking.

Greg G schreef
Actually, I think you (mel) might have it with the Morinda Citrifolia. The
"fruit" shown on the pages that you posted was present around the tree. I
guess I failed to make the association between the spiky ball on the tree
and other (I assume more mature) brainy looking clumps that were around. I
was told that it was originally imported, IIRC from some polynesian
island, to Costa Rica. It is locally called "Noni" and has been used by the
nearby BriBri tribe as a cure-all medicine.

Interestingly, some of those Morinda web pages also called it
"noni", so that's further evidence.

Apparently it has also caused a
craze in the health food / alternative medicine industries.

Again, also shown by the Morinda web search results.

The owner of the farm did show me a ripe "fruit" and it was the most
malodorous clump of juice I ever had the misfortune to handle. It left a
disgusting smell on my hand that was very hard to wash away.

Thanks for the info everyone! Definitely take a trip to CR if you ever get
a chance. There is enough to see and do to keep any curious person busy for
a long time. Plus it is cheap and the beer is excellent.

Agreed.

cheers

mel turner schreef
Well, you had me mostly convinced that it must be something else,
although I couldn't go along with the Lauraceae idea [I've
never seen any Lauraceae with heads anything like this, and few
if any with opposite leaves]. If those were fruits and not flower
buds, it obviously couldn't be Morinda or any other Rubiaceae, but
I still had no good ideas where else to start looking.

+ + +
I suppose that those receptacle-lookalikes gave me the wrong idea, even if
in Lauraceae, whatever form they take (quite a bit of variation possible)
they tend to be neatly cylindrical in circumference.
Indeed those heads are unlauraceous [?] but inflorescences like Umbellularia
californica do exist and something similar might result in a "head" of
fruits.

Opposite leafs do occur in Lauraceae, but are not common.

I guess I should be more careful when it comes to guessing
PvR

In article , [P
van Rijckevorsel] wrote...
mel turner schreef

Well, you had me mostly convinced that it must be something else,
although I couldn't go along with the Lauraceae idea [I've
never seen any Lauraceae with heads anything like this, and few
if any with opposite leaves]. If those were fruits and not flower
buds, it obviously couldn't be Morinda or any other Rubiaceae, but
I still had no good ideas where else to start looking.

+ + +
I suppose that those receptacle-lookalikes gave me the wrong idea, even if
in Lauraceae, whatever form they take (quite a bit of variation possible)
they tend to be neatly cylindrical in circumference.
Indeed those heads are unlauraceous [?] but inflorescences like Umbellularia
californica do exist and something similar might result in a "head" of
fruits.

Opposite leafs do occur in Lauraceae, but are not common.

I guess I should be more careful when it comes to guessing

[shrug] I don't really see why you should-- there's
no penalty for anyone proposing a plausible hypothesis that
seems to fit the data, even if it later gets rejected.

cheers

So I will stick to my guess of this being one of the Lauraceae, readily
admitting this is far from sure.

Nah. It is a lighting fixture from the Elbonian subway.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

So I will stick to my guess of this being one of the Lauraceae, readily
admitting this is far from sure.

Nah. It is a lighting fixture from the Elbonian subway.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

Iris Cohen schreef :
Nah. It is a lighting fixture from the Elbonian subway.
Iris,

+ + +
Shht! Don't give them any ideas. There are too many silly looking lighting
fixtures as is.
PvR

mel turner schreef
[shrug] I don't really see why you should-- there's
no penalty for anyone proposing a plausible hypothesis that
seems to fit the data, even if it later gets rejected.

cheers

+ + +
Obviously I do a lot of guessing, but not out in public, and only when this
has a chance of contributing something useful. There is not much point in
confusing the issue with guesses when there is a fair chance that there is
somebody around who may actually know.
PvR