Agauai grande, Gardner pouteria
Pouteria gardneri

Family: Sapotaceae

What it is like

A tree. It grows 7-10 m high. The trunk is 30-40 cm across. The young shoots are hairy. The leaves are alternate and loosely clustered near the ends of branches. The leaves are 6-18 cm long by 3-4 cm wide. They taper towards the base. The leaf stalk is 3-9 mm long. The flowers are of one sex with different sexes on separate plants. The flowers occur in clusters of 1-3 flowers in the axils of leaves. The flowers are greenish. The fruit stalk is 0.4-1 cm long. It is slender and can be hairy. The fruit is fleshy with a hard stone. The fruit are 1-1.7 cm long. It is black when ripe. The fruit is edible. The seed is 0.9-1.4 cm long.

There are about 150-320 Pouteria species. They grow in the tropics.

Where it is found

A tropical plant. In Bolivia it grows up to 600-1000 m altitude. The rainfall is 1000 mm per year.

Countries/locations it is found in

Andes, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, South America

How it is used for food

The fruit are eaten raw.

The fruit are not very popular.

Edible parts

Fruit

How it is grown

Plants are grown from seed. Ripe fruit are harvested and the seeds removed and planted fresh. They germinate in 40-70 days.

Its other names

Local names

Aguai-guacu, Frutinha-de-veado, Iba disha, Ihvacurumbicha, Leitero folha miuda, Leiteiro-preto,, Massaranduba vermelha, Sapotinha, Tadumo, Traponu-icha

Synonyms

Chrysophyllum gardneri Martius & Miquel; Discoluma gardneri (Martius & Miquel) Baillon; Lucuma catocladantha Eichler; Lucuma gardneri (Mart. & Eichler ex Miq.) Engl.; Lucuma gardneriana A DC. sensu Dubard; Lucuma paraguariensis Chodat & Hassler; Lucuma paraguariensis forma fruticosa Chodat & Hassler; Podoluma catocladantha (Eichler) Bailloon; Podoluma gardneri (Mart. & Eichler ex Miq.) Aubrev.; Pouteria catocladantha (Eichler) Baehni; Vitellaria catocladantha (Eichler) Baillon;