Fruiting Trees, Shrubs and Herbaceous Plants - Q, R, S

++ Indicates that this is a variety or a species that is found in our arboretum, but not often stocked in our nursery. Inquire about availability. If we do not have it in stock, we can put you on our "waitlist" and call you when we have it available. 

Red Mombin 

see Mombin, Red 

Rheedia aristata 

see Cuban mangosteen

Rose Apple 

Syzygium jambos, syn. Eugenia jambos

FCFS available. Rose Apple produces a round, 1½-2" pale yellow fruit sometimes with a pink blush. The crisp flesh usually contains little juice and has the unique flavor of sweetened rosewater. The fruits are mainly eaten fresh by children but can also be made into jam if lemon juice is added. Fruiting starts in about four years and the main season in Florida is May through July. Fruit flies are a pest. This evergreen tree does well on many soil types and doesn't require much care. It reaches 25-40 feet and has a wide branch spread, making it a nice shade tree. It can tolerate several degrees below freezing. Our tree at ECHO was killed to the ground in the freeze of Dec. '89 and grew back rapidly. 

Sapodilla (Naseberry , Nispero) 

Manilkara zapota, syn. M. achras, M. zapotilla

FCFS available. Native to the Yucatan, the sapodilla tree grows well in poor limestone soils and almost any other well-drained soil. It is drought resistant and can withstand wind and salt spray. It is almost equal to the date palm in its tolerance to high soil salinity. Sapodilla trees are beautiful, slow growing evergreens, capable of reaching a height of 60 feet. They are often are used in windbreaks. Huge trees can be seen in Key West, and ECHO has smaller fruiting trees in our fruit tree arboretum. It produces latex, known as chicle, once used to give the chewy consistency in chewing gums. The fruit has brown flaky skin and translucent, gritty flesh. Sapodilla fruit pulp is very sweet with excellent, sometimes spicy flavor, but it seems to ferment easily. Most varieties, including those we carry, are self-fertile. Mature sapodillas can withstand temperatures of 26º F. They bear May through September, but the season peaks in June and July.

'Alano' fruit is small to medium (4-9 oz), about the size of an orange with very smooth, or slightly grainy texture, juicy and moderately sweet. Self-pollinating. An excellent fruit, it bears well from November to June.

'Brown Sugar' bears heavily and is very sweet, almost to the point of being overpowering to some people. It is slightly grainy and gives high yields of smallish fruit (5-6 oz) from May to September.

'Oxkutzcab' is a variety new to ECHO's nursery. We do not know much about this cultivar, except that two reputable nurseries speak well of this fruit. It is a roundish Mexican cultivar that gives high yields of very good and extremely large fruit (up to 28 oz) from May to September.

'Molix' is another football shaped fruit native to Mexico. This fruit is similar to Hasya in many ways, but it tends to be darker brown outside, less red inside, and the tree has curly leaves. The pulp is exceptionally sweet with a fine pear texture and pleasant aroma. The fruit are large typically weighing thirteen ounces. The season differs slightly from that of Hasya, beginning in February and ending in May.

'Makok' is long, pointed, and one of the best tasting in the world. It is native to Thailand, and it is a recent introduction to Florida. This is an excellent variety for homeowners because the tree is a small compact grower perfect for limited spaces. The pulp is smooth and brown with a sweet aroma. It ripens from May to November.

'Tikal'Tikal' was selected in the United States but its origin is also Mexico. The fruit are ovoid in shape, but are fat at one end like a top. This variety was one of the first superior commercial varieties planted in Florida, but its popularity has diminished with the introduction of larger more productive cultivars. Fruit size can vary, but they can get as large as eleven ounces. The fruit ripen from December to March.

'Silas Wood' No information is presently available for this variety.

'Hasya' is a football shaped fruit native to Mexico where it is the number one commercial cultivar grown. The fruit is of excellent eating quality and it has a reddish hue throughout the pulp. The tree is a large upright grower, and it is a prolific producer of large fruit that typically weigh thirteen ounces. The fruit ripens from November to June. 

Sapote 

see Mamey Sapote.  Sometimes the Sapodilla is also called "Sapote". 

Soursop (Graviola, Guanábana) 

Annona muricata

Soursop produces large fruits on its trunk and branches. The fruit is often used as a drink by mixing the juice with milk or water and sugar. Less acid varieties are eaten fresh. Production starts in three to five years in a seedling tree and occurs year-round. The tree is bushy, but has an upright growth habit and can reach 12-30 ft. A few degrees below freezing can kill the tree and near freezing temperatures defoliate it temporarily. We have soursops in our "Annona row" in our arboretum, behind the nursery trailer. 

Spineless prickly pear cactus 

see Prickly Pear Cactus, Spineless 

Star Apple 

see Camito 

Star Fruit 

see Carambola 

Strawberry Guava 

see Cattley Guava 

Strawberry Tree (Jamaica Cherry) 

Muntingia calabura

This is a very fast growing, spreading small tree. It produces flowers and ripe small red fruit every day for most of the year. The flavor is poor to some people at first try, but is easy to acquire a taste for it as it exhibits consistent fruit production. The skin has a resinous flavor that can be avoided by squeezing the pulp out like a slipskin grape. We have had no success using it in cooking. Freshly frozen fruits can be mixed with fruit salads while still frozen. Production should start the first year after planting. The tree has been killed by freezes at ECHO, but does well in more protected parts of southern Florida. The tree is somewhat susceptible to wind damage and flooding. 

Sugar Apple (Sweetsop) 

Annona squamosa

FCFS available. This fruit is also known as sweetsop. It is a small tree and produces very unusual looking lumpy fruit. The fruit become soft when ripe so it is hard to market commercially. The sweet, flavorful flesh of most varieties is white, but a few varieties are red or purple. They are usually eaten as a dessert fruit, but can also be used to make ice cream and milk shakes. The dark brown seeds should not be eaten. Production starts in 3 or 4 years from seed and seedling trees are quite uniform with good quality fruit. The season is summer through midwinter. The tree loses its leaves when cold weather comes and can remain dormant until spring. They have poor tolerance to flooding and salt. 28 or 29ºF does not seriously injure mature trees but young trees may be killed at 30ºF. You can see some sugar apple trees in the "Annona" row in the arboretum behind the nursery trailer.

Surinam Cherry 

Eugenia uniflora

FCFS available: "Selected Eugenia Species." Surinam cherry makes an attractive hedge and is commonly used in South Florida because it is hardy to about 22ºF. If not pruned as a hedge, the tree can grow about 10-15¢tall, making a round, attractive shrub. The red or black fruits are small and variable in flavor. Some trees have good-tasting sweet fruits; others have a resinous aftertaste and can be sour. The black fruit varieties usually lack the aftertaste. Plants grown from seeds of black fruit are much more likely to produce good fruit. Production starts 1-3 years after planting. Fruit flies are the only serious pest of this fruit. Surinam cherry shrubs can be seen on either side of the entrance to the nursery parking area, and in many other locations on the farm. It does not require much care or water (though it will benefit from both), making it one of our favorite "edible hedges". 

Sweetsop