Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. 100:323-327. 1987. THE ROLE OF THE FRUIT & SPICE PARK IN POPULARIZATION AND DISSEMINATION OF TROPICAL FRUIT IN SOUTH FLORIDA1 Chris B. Rollins fruits, candied fruits, little-known spices, jellies, posters, Preston B. Bird &f Mary Heinlein unusual seeds, cold fruit juices, books and specialized hor Fruit & Spice Park ticultural supplies. Fruit products from around the tropical 24801 S. W. 187 Avenue world crowd the shelves. Jelly from fruits grown nowhere Homestead, Florida 33031 else in the United States is purchased from local kitchens in the surrounding rural area. The store is a center for Abstract. The Fruit & Spice Park is an arboretum containing specialized books often difficult to obtain on tropical fruits, over 500 varieties of edible, economic and poisonous plants. vegetables, herbs, nuts, and spices. Residents and tourists Operated daily by the Metropolitan Dade County Park & Rec browse through the store fascinated by exotic fruits such reation Department it is the only public garden of its kind in as durian, rambutan, santol, tamarind, breadfruit, longan, the United States. Park activities promote exotic fruits and lychee and others. vegetables and encourage the dispersal and exchange of Throughout the year guided and self-guided tours di tropical crop germ plasm. rect thousands of visitors through the Park. Tour groups include pre-school classes to college botany classes, garden The Fruit & Spice Park is a unique public park owned clubs, retirement groups and a full spectrum of residents and operated by the Metropolitan Dade County Park and and tourists. Tours last from 1/2 to 1-1/2 hours depending Recreation Department. Its 20 acres located in southern on the attention span and interest level of each group. Florida give it a tropical climate found nowhere else in the Park guides provide samples of ripe fruits and groups continental United States. As a living museum it houses munch their way through the Park as they discuss the over 500 varieties of fruit, vegetable, spice, nut, herb and plants. Hundreds of different fruit varieties are given to economic plants from around the world. Established in Park visitors throughout the course of each year. A guide 1944, the Park reflects the keen interest residents have book permits self-guided tours throughout the Park dur always had in tropical crops. ing regular Park hours (10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily). The guide As early as 1833 Dr. Henry Perrine introduced mango, book contains brief descriptions of hundreds of tropical avocado and sisal for the development of tropical plant plants. It also contains local agricultural information, a sec ations in south Florida. Well established crops in south tion on poisonous plants of south Florida, tropical fruit Florida today include mango, avocado, lime and papaya. recipes, a list of rare fruit clubs and suggested further Recently interest in commercial production of exotic crops reading. Guided Park tours can be set up by prior arrange has swelled due to better shipping, greater public reception ment. and expanding ethnic markets within the United States. Public tours and field trips away from the Park include New commercial fruit crops include carambola, mamey sa- the fruit collections of the Florida Keys, groves in the sur pote, lychee, longan, jakfruit, pummelo, kumquat, rounding Redland farm district, private rare fruit collec atemoya and sugar apple, passion fruit and several others. tions in Miami, and various university and governmental Throughout this recent period the Fruit & Spice Park stations. Not officially connected with, but coordinated by has played an important role in exposing growers and the the Park, are frequent fruit collecting trips to Central public to these crops and providing germ plasm for nurse America. These tours have visited Guatemala, Honduras ries, farms and backyard growers. The Park is the only and Costa Rica. Participants in these trips are escorted place in the United States to see these exotic fruit trees in through markets, farms and jungles and are aided in un one spot in a mature state. derstanding and collecting exotic fruit and plant speci The Park has been designated as part of the Redland mens. Botanists, students and gardeners from across the Historic District by Metropolitan Dade County. An old United States have joined these trips for several years. Dade County pine schoolhouse (1906) and a coral rock Popular Park program activities include classes in prop building (1912), both on Park property, exemplify old agation, utilization and cultivation of tropical fruit, vegeta south Florida life. Several nearby homes and a church bles, herbs, spices and nuts. Classes on establishing a small complete the District. grove have been extremely useful to residents putting in The historic Bauer-Mitchell house was moved to the small acreage farms. Topics covered include location, site Park in 1982. Built in 1902 from native Dade County pine preparation, tree trenching, planting, cultivation, harvest and cypress, its style typifies the rustic architecture of this and marketing. early farming community. This is the oldest house in south In 1982 the Fruit & Spice Park established and hosted Dade County. It is integrated into the Park by landscaping the first annual Rare Fruit Club Conference. The purpose with antique tropical fruit varieties. of the event is to unite a broad scattering of organizations Established in 1982 to enhance the garden is the Red- for exchange of information and germ plasm. In 1987 the land Fruit Store. Open daily 10 a.m.-5 p.m. the store pro directing committee has established a schedule that will vides visitors with an introduction to the garden. Items place future Conferences in Florida every other year. In stocked in the store include teas, dried fruits, canned alternate years the Conference will convene out of Florida and possibly in foreign tropical fruit producing areas. In •The official name of the Park is the Preston B. Bird Mary Heinlein 1988 the 6th Annual Rare Fruit Club Conference will be Fruit & Spice Park. conducted by the California Rare Fruit Growers. The Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. 100: 1987. 323 Miami Chapter of the Rare Fruit Council International Table 1. Germplasm currently growing at the Preston B. Bird and Mary Heinlein Fruit and Spice Park. will be host in 1989. Each January thousands of people come to the Park to Acornus calamus L. Sweet Flag enjoy the natural arts, crafts and food of the Annual Red- Actinidia chinensis Planch Kiwi (Vincent, Tiwi) land Natural Arts Festival. This exciting event brings to Adanaonia digitata L. Baobab gether artists, craftsmen and outdoorsmen who represent Aegle marmelos (L.) Correa Bael Fruit Agave sisalana Perrine Sisal Hemp the pioneer spirit of south Florida. Aiphanes acanthaphylla (Mart.) Burret Coyore Palm South Florida agricultural interests stage the Tropical Aloe barbadensis Mill Aloe Agricultural Fiesta annually at the Fruit & Spice Park. The Alpinia galanga Sw. Thai Ginger Tropical Agricultural Fiesta committee represents the in Amygdalus persica L. Peach terests of all agriculture in south Florida, not only fruit Anacardium occidentale L. Cashew Annanas comosus (L.) Merr. Pineapple and vegetable production but also the extensive nursery Annona cherimola Mill. Cherimoya industry. This event is the largest exhibit of tropical fruit Annona diversifolia Saff. Illama (Montgomery White, Red) in the United States and features tropical fruit producers, Annona glabra L. Pond Apple shippers and retailers. Held at the height of the summer Annona globiflora Schlecht fruit season a vast fruit display exhibits hundreds of trop Annona montana Macfad. Mountain Soursop ical fruits including over 100 varieties of mango. Inspired Annona muricata L. Soursop Annona purpurea Moc. &? Sesse Soncoya to promote commercial tropical fruit production the Trop Annona reticulata L. Custard Apple ical Agricultural Fiesta is held amid the lush exotic fruit Annona squamosa L. Sugar Apple (Seedless, Thai-Lessard) plantings of the Fruit & Spice Park. Annona squamosa X Annona cherimola Atemoya (African Pride, Brad ley, Geffner, Guzzman, Priestly, Pinks Mammoth) An active exchange program has introduced materials Antidesma bunius (L.) Spreng. Bignay (Kampong) from tropical America, Africa and Southeast Asia. Of par Arecastrum romanzoffian (Chan.) Becc. Queen Palm ticular interest has been exchange with The Wilson Arenga pinnata (Wurmb.) Merr. Black Sugar Palm Popenoe Botanical Garden in Lancetilla, Honduras. The Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. Jakfruit (NS-1, Kunwichan) Park has worked closely with them and has received large Artocarpus lingnanensis Merr. Kwai Muk Averrhoa bilimbi L. Bilimbi shipments of valuable plant material from their collection. Averrhoa carambola L. Carambola (Arkin, B-10, Florida Sweet, Fwang) By obtaining funding from the Rare Fruit Council Interna Tung, Golden Star, Grimal, Kajang, Maha, Younghans) tional last year a horticulturist and advisor were brought Bactris gasipaes HBK Peach Palm to south Florida for an intensive two-week itinerary of Basella alba L. Malabar Spinach training and plant collecting. Over 200 varieties of tropical Basella ruba L. Malabar Spinach Benincasa hispida (Thumb.) Cogn. Winter Melon fruit were taken back to The Wilson Popenoe Botanical Bixa orellana L. Lipstick Tree Garden. Many have already found their way into the per Blighia sapida Koenig Akee manent plantings. Boehmeria nivea L. Ramie From the very generous and enlightened Honduran Bombax glabra Malabar Chestnut Borassus flabellifer L. Palmyra Palm Foundation for Agricultural Research (FHIA) the Park has Bromelia pinguin L. Pinguin received a number of rare banana clones not currently in Brosimum alicastrum Sw. Mayan Breadnut Florida. This has brought our banana collection to over 50 Broussonetia papyrifera (L.) Vent. Paper Mulberry different varieties and species. Bunchosia armeniaca (Cav.) Rich. Correspondence and exchange is conducted with trop Bunchosia lanceolata Turez Butia capitata Becc. Jelly Palm ical fruit growers in many parts of the world. Within the Byrsonima crassifolia (L.) HBK Nance last year seeds and plants from Zaire, Thailand, Costa Rica, Cajanus cajun (L.) Millsp.