Eugenia stipitata
| Araza | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Myrtales |
| Family: | Myrtaceae |
| Genus: | Eugenia |
| Species: | E. stipitata |
| Binomial name | |
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Eugenia stipitata McVaugh |
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Eugenia stipitata (Araza, Portuguese common names araçá, araçá-boi Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐɾɐˈsa ˈboj], Spanish common name arazá) is a fruit tree native to Amazon Rainforest vegetation in Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador.
Arazá is a fruit tree, originating in western part of Amazonia. This plant is a kind of less known and underutilized crop, which have certain attractive properties for further agricultural development. Although the fruit is very acidic for direct consumption, it can be processed into juices, nectars, marmalades, ice-creams etc. with an exotic, refreshing taste. The species is believed to have its origin in the extreme west of the Amazon basin, perhaps in the Peruvian Amazon.(2) Most of the wild populations are found on old, non-floodable terraces in tropical, white, highly leached podzolic soils, which are distributed specifically within the area between the Marañón and Ucayali Rivers and where the Amazon begins and as far as Iquitos (ssp. sororia) and in Brazilian state Acre (ssp. Stipitata).(4) It is only found in the western Amazon and does not appear to have been widely spread by the Indians, although some of the best varieties appear to have been selected by the Peruvian Indians around Iquitos.(3) The reason is that within the locally cultivated material, there occur varieties 12 cm in diameter and 740 g in weight, compared with the wild populations which do not exceed 7 cm in diameter and 30 g in weight. (4) Less frequently species may be found also in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia. It is exotic to other tropical areas in South America, Central America and Florida. Specimens have also been introduced elsewhere in the tropics, for example in Tenom, Sabah, Malaysia. (3)
The genus was named after Francois Eugene, Prince of Savoy (1663–1736), an Austrian general who, with Marlborough, won the Battle of Blenheim and was a distinguished patron of art, science and literature. (1) The araza is a shrub or small tree 2.5–15 m, with densely branched habit. The flaking bark has brown to reddish colour. The leaves are simple, opposite, elliptical to slightly oval, 8–19 by 3.5–9.5 cm, apex acuminate, base rounded and often subcordate, margins entire, leaves dull and dark green with 6-10 pairs of impressed lateral veins, pale green, shortly pilose, with scattered hairs below. The inflorescences are in axillary racemes, usually with two to five flowers which are 1 cm wide and pedicillate, have 4 rounded sepals and 5 white, oval petals. Linear bracteoles, calyx 4 rounded, stamens 70 and long, ovary with 3–4 locules, each with 5–8 ovules, style 5–8 mm long. Fruit a globose to oblate or spherical berry, 2–10 x 2–12 cm, which reaches weight up to 750g. Pale green turning to bright yellow when ripe with a thin, velvety skin enclosing a juicy, aromatic, acid, thick pulp enclosing usually 12 seeds. The seeds are recalcitrant as that do not survive drying and freezing during ex-situ conservation. (1; 3; 4; 5)
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