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| 7-Year Apple - Staminate Plant |
A lot of plants are said to be trouble-free, but this one really is. Nothing bothers it. It grows freely on the back side of the beach dunes here. It is extremely drought-and-salt tolerant, untroubled by diseases, and free of insect pests. It is listed as the larval host of the Tantalus Sphinx Moth, but ours has never shown any evidence of chewing. In general it is also wind-resistant. Ours came through Hurricane Wilma in 2005 with minimal damage. Irma, last September, though, tore it apart.
When we moved to our house on a barren lot I broke a cardinal rule of gardening - don't place shrubs and trees too close to each other. I knew the theoretical mature size and spread of the things I was planting, but could not visualize how the bare slips I was committing to the earth would ever reach those dimensions. Besides, I didn't expect everything to thrive. I planted a Jamaica Caper, the Genipa, and a Coontie (Zamia pumila) on 3-4-foot radii in the vicinity of a medium Christmas Palm. Then later, I added a Lignum Vitae (Guajacum sanctum) which had outgrown its pot because there seemed no other place to put it.
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For a few years everything in the garden was lovely, and then everything took off at once. The Coontie has formed a massive clump at least 5 feet in diameter, and the Jamaica Caper is 12-15 feet tall. The Lignum Vitae, which already had developed a spreading form in the pot, spread even more in competition with the others. The Genipa started getting shaded out. Genipa bears most of its leaves in clusters at the ends of its branches, so it is sort of hollow "inside," but the growth is typically dense and compact enough to protect it from wind. The branches on ours had become so elongated and spread out that Irma's winds ripped the shrub apart. It is badly disfigured now, and the problem of too little space for too many plants remains. But it is blooming so profusely now that I can't bring myself to be rational and ruthless.
My main reason for loving it is its incredibly fragrant flowers. By now the Jamaica Caper has ceased flowering, but the Genipa is still going strong, and I go out at least once a day, but usually more, just to get my "hit" from the fragrance. Butterflies, skippers, other small insects, and probably moths, love the flowers too. Ours started blooming in March and is still not slowing down.
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| Gulf Fritillary and Genipa |
The plants are dioecious - that is each individual plant has either "male" (staminate) or "female"(carpellate) flowers. The staminate plants produce clusters of flowers, while carpellate flowers appear singly. When you buy a Genipa, it's the luck of the draw which one you get, same as with hollies. You'll get fruit only with a carpellate plant close enough to a staminate plant to be pollinated.
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| Immature Fruits |
The immature fruit isn't quite so "deco neon" - I'm no master of Photoshop Elements! In spite of the name, the fruit takes about a year to mature. Fruit in various states of maturity can be found on the same bush. It starts green, turns yellow, and then dark brown when ripe. It is about the size of a Comice pear. It is vaguely edible, but not palatable.
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| Fallen Ripe Fruit |
I've never eaten a fermented prune, but that's what came to mind when I tasted Genipa. The fruit is little more than a pulpy sac containing numerous seeds, which are said to be emetic. Mockingbirds apparently have developed a trick of pecking a small hole in the fruit and eating the inside goodies - leaving an empty sac still hanging on the branch. Other wildlife, especially raccoons, eat the fruit as well.
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| Smashed on a Concrete Walkway Anybody Hungry? |
7-Year Apple is native to Cuba, the Bahamas, Turks , Caicos, Bermuda, and southern Florida. It grows in sandy or rocky substrates. Why do garden centers concentrate on exotics that need coddling when there are natives like this?
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