Studies on the West Indian Cherry, Malpighia Punicifolia L.; Observation and Data on a Promising Selection
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
250 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1954 some varieties when mature. Attempts to Conclusions tabulate these whole fruit specific gravities At present, no physical or chemical test can have given very erratic results, probably be be recommended as a measure of maturity for cause of the variations in size of the seed cav Florida avocados. The best maturity stand ity. The low specific gravity is due to air be ard appears to be dates of picking which have tween the cells of the fruit. When the air been correlated with palatability and appear was removed by evacuation, the specific grav ance of the ripened fruit. ity was more than 1.0. Measuring the specific LITERATURE CITED gravity of a section of pulp was not satisfac tory since the pulp expanded when cut. 1. Bulletin 259, "Changes in Composition of Florida Avocados in Relation to Maturity," by Arthur L. Pressure testing, such as is used with Stahl, Agri. Exp. Sta., Gainesville. peaches and some other fruits showed very 2. Bulletin, Calif. Dept. of Agri., Vol. XXXVI No. 1 (1947), p. 20. little difference between freshly picked avo 3. Mimeographed Report — "Tentative Method Cor cados whether mature or immature. the Determination of Oil in Avocados," State of Calif. Dept. of Agri. Bur. of Chem. and Bur. of Fruit and Vegetable Standardization, Sacramento. ..Nov. 18, 1948. STUDIES ON THE WEST INDIAN CHERRY, MALPIGHIA PUNICIFOLIA L.; OBSERVATION AND DATA ON A PROMISING SELECTION F. Arostegui, C. F. Asenjo, Ana I. Muniz of reducing and total sugars in the juice from this cherry (6). and L. Alemany Agricultural Experiment Station Description of the Genus Malpighia The botanical literature on the genus Mal and School of Medicine pighia is rather limited. It has over 30 spe University of Puerto Rico cies in tropical and subtropical America and Field work on the West Indian Cherry, was named in honor of Marcello Malpighi, (Malpighia punicifolia L.) was started at the Italian botanist born in 1628 (1628-1693). Agricultural Experiment Station in 1947. At Apparently some confusion has arisen in the the Main Station in Rio Piedras, two plantings description of two of the species namely, M. of four-hundred trees are under study since punicifolia and M. glabra. Similarity of botan then. During the years 1951, 1952 and 1953, ical characters exists between the M. punici two-hundred-thirty-eight trees were planted folia of Limnaeus and M. glabra of Mills- at the Isabela Substation on a Coto clay soil. paugh, this probably being the cause of ascrib ing the two names to the same species. The West Indian Cherry or "Acerola," as it A good botanical description of M. punici is commonly called in Puerto Rico, has become folia, L. is given by Britton and Percy (7) and a potential economic crop because of the is given here for purposes of clarification. Our studies made by Asenjo and co-workers in West Indian cherry selections correspond 1945 which led to the discovery of the high closely to this description and thus we be ascorbic acid content of the juice of these lieve our species to be M. punicifolia, L. cherries (1, 4). Further work done by this Malpighia punicifolia, L. Sp. PI. ed. 2, 609. group in cherries harvested at the Agricultural 1762. Experiment Station, has confirmed their orig M. punicifolia lancifolia Ndz. Gen. Malp. inal observations (2, 3). 8. 1899. Santini (5) has recently reported that be M. punicifolia vulgaris Ndz. Gen. Malp. sides ascorbic and dehydroascorbic acid, the 8. 1899. only other acid present in appreciable amounts M. punicifolia obovata Ndz. Gen. Malp. in the West Indian cherry is 1-malic acid, an 8. 1899. acid which is not biologically active. He also A shrub or small tree. Leaves elliptic, ob has published a method for the determination long, or obovate or narrowly oblanceolate, 2-7 AROSTEGUI, ASENJO, MUNIZ, ALEMANY: MALPIGHIA 251 cm. long, 0.8-4 cm. broad, obtuse or rounded Vitamin C in the Ripe Cherries of and often emarginate at the apex, acute or Selection B-17 cuneate at the base, glabrous when mature, Among the selections under study at our the petioles 1.5-4 mm. long; cymes sessile or Station, number B-17 seems to be a very prom short-peduncled, the branches usually pubes ising one when various factors are considered cent; sepals ovate, 2.8-3 mm. long, pubescent; such as yield of fruit per acre, fruit size, yield petals pink or violet, the larger ones up to 9 of juice per fruit and vitamin-C content of mm. long; drupes globose, ovoid or subglo- juice. bose, 1-1.6 cm. in diameter, scarlet. (M. glabra The yield of fruit per acre can be esti of Millspaugh, not of Limnaeus). mated from the available data to range from Occasionally spontaneous after cultivation 3.6 to 5.4 tons of cherries harvested from four- in Puerto Rico for its fruit. St. Croix; St. year-old trees. The average weight of fruit Thomas;—St. Martin to Trinidad, Margarita ranges from 9 to 12 gm. and the average di and Curacao, northern South America. Cereza ameter of this particular selection is about 1.25 Colorada. West Indian Cherry. Chereese. inches. (See figs. 1 and 2). In table 1 are Table 1. Averago weight of one fruit, the yield of juice of one fruit. Grid the Vitamin C content in the juice of ripe chorries of a West Indian Cherry Selection. t leverage wt.; fVitamin C tvitamin (, Sample Iden-ft Date t of one *Yicld of juicp i(Ascorbic and t(Aseortic and tification ^harvested * fruit 1/ « per fruit 2/ fde hydro as oorb ic *de h yd roas corbie * * * facid) per 100 :acid) in squeezed * i * nnl. of juice sjuice per fruit, firs* t ial« t m^s. 5 inps* 119 B-17 : June 7.8 t 5.3 I 1375 f 72.9 119 B-17 Aug. 3/541 11.6 t 7.6 i 1950 f 148.2 120 B-17 I Juno 8/641 9.1 % 6.2 1 1400 % 86.8 120 B-17 t Aug. 3/64 • 8.9 % 6.2 f 2125 % 131.8 121 B-17 I Juno 8/fe4* 8.7 1 6.0 i 1400 t 84.0 121 B-17 1 Aug. 9.5 % 6.2 t 1950 t 120.9 122 B-17 } "ay 4/64 I 10.8 I 7.4 1 1675 1 123.9 122 B-17 « Aug. 3/641 9.8 % 6.2 i 2125 1 125.6 123 B-17 $ Juno 7.2 t 4.6 t 1450 I 66.7 223 B-17 I Aug. 9.1 °3i4; 6.1 % 2200 % 134.2 B-17 Juno 124 I 8/fe4« 7.0 4.0 % 1325 t 53.0 B-17 t Aug. 10.1 124 3/fe4f 7.1 s 2250 1 159.8 127 B-17 Juno ; % 8/4>41 8.3 5.6 t 1400 % 78.4 127 B-17 Aug. t 10/t4l 12.1 t 8.9 $ 1900 i 169.1 128 B-17 I May 4/64 t 8.1 1 5.4 9 1600 1 86.4 128 B-17 t Aup> 10/641 11.8 c 8.8 i 1350 c 162.8 130 B-17 t May ■4/t4 1 9.8 1 6.8 i 1600 t 108.8 130 B-17 Au£> 11.4 t 8.1 t 2200 % 176.4 1/Average of 10 fruits. 2/ Squeezed by hc*id in a piece of oloth. 252 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1954 brought to the laboratory in polyethylene bags placed in a freezer as soon as they were har vested. The analyses were performed within the following 48 hours. Ten fruits were taken at random from each bag. Juice from 10 fruits was obtained as in dicated above. The content of ascorbic and dehydroascorbic acid was determined by the method of Roe and Oesterlin (8) using 2,4- dinitrophenylhadrazine reagent. Both ascorbic and dehydroascorbic acids are known to have equal vitamin-C activity. The B-17 selection as can be judged from the data in Table 1 is a high yielder of juice as well as of vitamin C per juice per fruit. The yield of juice was as high as 73% of the weight of the fruit, while the vitamin C per 100 ml. of juice ranged between a minimum of 1325 and a maximum of 2250 mg. It is also interesting to note the difference in vitamin-C content of the cherries harvested in May and those in June and August. This should be further investigated as climatic conditions Fig. 1. Two fruits of Clone B-17 might be responsible for the variations ob recorded the yields of juice obtained by served. squeezing the fruits by hand in a piece of According to the recommended dietary al cloth and the vitamin-C content per 100 ml. of lowances of the National Research Council the juice and of juice per fruit. daily vitamin C for an average man has been Table 1 presents data on fruits of nine trees set at 75 mg. per day. As can be seen in the that belong to Selection B-17. The fruits were last column of table 1, a single cherry in the r .• / T:' j Fig. 2. Ripe fruits of Clone B-17. Notice the shape and large size of these fruits. AROSTEGUI, ASENJO, MUNIZ, ALEMANY: MALPIGHIA 253 large majority of the cases satisfies this recom has led to regard the "acerola" as having po mended dietary allowance.