ABOIRANA
(Pouteria venosa)
A fruit of aboirana
Synonyms: Achras venosa, Lucuma venosa, Vitellaria venosa.
Family: Sapotaceae
Other names: Bapeba, bapega-pessago, guaca-de-leite, quebra serra.
Aboirana bears roundish fruits which are 6-8 cm wide. The fruits are eaten but are not very
popular. This fruit is not cultivated.
Aboirana is an evergreen tree growing from 12-24 metres in height. It is a native of Northern South America. It is found in Guyana, Surinam and Brazil. It is however not a plant of very common occurrence even in these areas. The tree has a dense, globose crown. The leaves are simple, chartaceous, concentrated on the ends of branches, bicoloured, glabrous, 7-21 cm long with 8-14 pairs of inconspicuous nerves, secondary nerves. The inflorescences are in axillary fascicles on bare branches, have 1-6 androgynous flowers.
Fruits are berries containing upto three seeds. The pulp is starchy-carnose tasting sweet. These are just eaten out of hand.
The fruits are
not marketed and thus there does not seem to be much scope for the domestication
of aboirana.
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