If I'm going to collect Eugenias, though, I'd better get smart and learn their Latin names. At our big sale a couple of weeks ago, I bought a Eugenia candolleana from Adam Shafran, only to get home and find out that I already had three of them obtained from Berto Silva back in January. I don't mind, though, because it's reported to be a wonderful fruiting plant.
The fruit of E. candolleana is described at the Tropical Fruit Forum as "absolutely delicious" with "firm and sweet flesh", and "definitely plumlike with a unique complex taste, very juicy and melting texture." Also called Rainforest Plum, and also called cambui roxo in its native Brazil, it is an attractive evergreen shrub or small tree, though it can eventually grow into a very large tree in its native habitat. Vigorous and supposedly almost everbearing, it can fruit in as little as three years from seed, even less in a container. It's said to be a recent arrival to Florida, perhaps in the past five years, although I would check with Ray before believing that.
At four miles from the coast, and perhaps in a bit of a cold pocket, I always have to think about freeze tolerance. One report from Texas claims that a Rainforest Plum survived a drop to 25 degrees with only minor damage. With four plants, I can keep some in pots and try others in the ground to test their limits.
On the negative side, the fruit is best if it fully ripens on the tree, and Adam reports that the birds in his neighborhood haven't been waiting that long. But we face that problem with many of our fruits, and if reports of their prolific production hold true here, we can produce Rainforest Plums faster than robbers can eat them.
With luck I'll be bringing some Rainforest Plum fruit and eventually some seedlings to the club tables.
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