Bunchosia armeniaca

Bunchosia armeniaca
Bunchosia armeniaca with immature fruit.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Malpighiaceae
Genus: Bunchosia
Species:
B. armeniaca
Binomial name
Bunchosia armeniaca
Synonyms[1]
  • Bunchosia armeniaca f. parvifolia Nied.
  • Bunchosia armeniaca f. systyla Nied.
  • Malpighia armeniaca Cav.

Bunchosia armeniaca is a species in the family Malpighiaceae native to northwestern South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil, and Peru).[1][2][3] Common names include cansaboca,[4] cirhuela de frayle,[5] ciruela de fraile[1][4] (friar's plum), guáimaro,[1] indano,[4] and mamey de tierra fría[1] (cold-earth mamey).[6] Its Kichwa name is usuma.[4]

Bunchosia armeniaca can attain a height of 20 meters, but it commonly grows to 5 meters. It can be found between 100–2600 m of elevation in a wide range of ecological habitats.[7][5][8][9][10]

Bunchosia armeniaca yields a fruit that is very sweet and with cloying red pulp, which adheres strongly to the seeds, hence the Spanish etymology cansaboca (tired mouth). The two seeds in each berry were said to be poisonous[4][7] by Joseph Dombey.[5] Due to rapid spoilage on the tree, the fruit are often harvested while still a creamy-green and ripened to a red colour indoors.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Bunchosia armeniaca". Plants of the World Online (POWO). Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
  2. ^ "Bunchosia armeniaca". Tropicos. Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
  3. ^ Funk, V.; Hollowell, T.; Berry, P.; Kelloff, C.; Alexander, S.N. (2007). Checklist of the Plants of the Guiana Shield (Venezuela: Amazonas, Bolivar, Delta Amacuro; Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana), Contributions from the United States National Herbarium. Vol. 55. Washington, DC, USA: Department of Botany, National Museum of Natural History. p. 386. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d e Arthur Lee Jacobson (2015-01-08). "Peanut-butter Fruit or Plant". growables.org. Retrieved 2023-09-16.
  5. ^ a b c Cavanilles, Antonio José (1789). Octava Dissertatio Botanica, Erythroxylon et Malpighiam complectens. Paris: François-Ambroise Didot. p. 410. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
  6. ^ Dictionary of Trees, Volume 2: South America: Nomenclature, Taxonomy and Ecology. (2013) By M. M. Grandtner & Julien Chevrette. Academic Press.
  7. ^ a b Candolle, Augustin Pyramus de (1824). Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis (Vol 1 ed.). Paris: Treuttel & Würtz. p. 582. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
  8. ^ Rusby, Henry Hurd. 1907. Bulletin of the New York Botanical Garden 4: 333, Bunchosia pilocarpa
  9. ^ Jørgensen, P. M. & S. León-Yánez. (eds.) 1999. Catalogue of the vascular plants of Ecuador, Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 75: i–viii, 1–1181. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
  10. ^ Killeen, T. J., E. García Estigarribia & S. G. Beck. (eds.) 1993. Guía de Árboles de Bolivia 1–958. Herbario Nacional de Bolivia & Missouri Botanical Garden, Edit. Quipus srl., La Paz