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Pouteria caimito
Also called Caimito
In Singapore: Abiu, Star Apple, Caimito (Grown in Singapore)
Abiu is a tropical fruit tree in the Sapotaceae family, grown for its translucent, custard-flavoured fruit. It needs a warm, moist, frost-free climate and wet, slightly acidic soil.
Pouteria caimito, the abiu (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐˈbiw]), is a tropical fruit tree in the family Sapotaceae. It grows in the Amazonian region of South America, and this type of fruit can also be found in Cuba, the Philippines and other countries in Southeast Asia. It grows to an average of 10 metres (33 feet) high, with ovoid fruits. The inside of the fruit is translucent and white. It has a creamy and jelly-like texture with a taste resembling caramel custard.†
The tree grows best in tropical areas and in places that have a warm, moist climate all year long, and is slightly less hardy than related sapotes such as the canistel and sapodilla (nispero). Within the United States, it grows well in South Florida as far north as Palm Beach County, and has survived brief freezes. It prefers wet, slightly acidic soil with high organic content, and may suffer from iron deficiency (chlorosis) in alkaline soils. A tree that has just been planted is fragile and needs protection from wind and cold weather. Only light pruning is necessary and feeding should be frequent, but light.
P. caimito is commonly considered to be native to the headwaters of the Amazon. It grows wild in the lower eastern part of the Andes from southwestern Venezuela to Peru. It also grows around Tingo Maria and Iquitos, Peru, and it can commonly be found in the Province of Guayas in Ecuador, where it is sold in the markets. The abiu was cultivated by Amerindians and it became widespread in the Amazon, but the origins of the fruit's distribution outside the Amazon is uncertain. In the Amazon basin, it is found to grow heavily in the northern Brazilian state of Pará, but is also found sparsely in collections from the Atlantic rainforest near Rio de Janeiro and Bahia. It can also be found in Colombia in areas such as the regions of Caquetá, Meta, and Vaupes and it is very plentiful in Amazonas, Venezuela and in Cuba. It has also been growing for a very long time in Trinidad and it is endemic in some parts of Southeast Asia like Indonesia and the Philippines.
The wood of the abiu tree is dense, heavy, and hard and is used as lumber in construction.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Pouteria caimito by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
