Our Jungle Apple Tree

The tree is in our front yard and is a great shade tree!

The pomarosa, or mamey (mah-may), as it's called in the jungle area of Peru, is something we had never heard of before until we moved here. The most common name is the Malay Apple due to the presumption that this fruit originated from Malaysia. After researching a little, it appears that this fruit is strictly tropical (not even being able to produce fruit in California or Florida) and is found all over the world with a number of different names.

Right now we are enjoying the sweet, juicy goodness of this interesting fruit, which is in the Myrtle family. It is a pear-shaped piece with very thin, deep red skin, and soft, white flesh you can easily sink your teeth into. It tastes somewhat like a pear... with a hint of floral essence. Yum.

And as you can also see, the tree itself is quite attractive with amazingly bright hot pink flowers.  The petals are stick-like and when they fall, the sheer quantity of them makes a beautiful natural carpet on the ground.