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Solanum muricatum
Also called Peruvian Pepino, Melon Pear
Pepino (Solanum muricatum) is a South American evergreen shrub grown for its sweet, melon-flavoured fruit. It grows best in a warm, frost-free climate and is usually grown as an annual or replanted each year because it is sensitive to cold, pests and disease.
Solanum muricatum is a South American species of evergreen shrub grown for its sweet edible fruit.
It is known by the Spanish common names of pepino or pepino dulce ('sweet cucumber', differentiating it from cucumber, which is also called pepino). It is also sometimes called pepino melon or melon pear due to its flavor. Another common name, tree melon, is more often used for the papaya.
Pepinos were described by early Spanish colonizers as being cultivated on the coast; the Moche Valley in Peru was particularly famous for them. They are not, however, often found archaeologically as they are soft and pulpy and not easy to preserve, while their tough seeds are small and easily lost among debris.
In the United States, the fruit is known to have been grown in San Diego before 1889 and in Santa Barbara by 1897. More commercially viable cultivars were introduced from New Zealand and elsewhere towards the end of the 20th century, leading to its introduction into upscale markets in Japan, Europe and North America.
The pepino dulce is presumed to be native to the temperate Andean regions of Colombia, Peru, and Chile, though it is not known in the wild and the details of its domestication are unknown.
Delicate and mild-flavored, pepinos are often eaten as a fresh snack fruit. They combine very well with a number of other fruits as well.
Dwarf Tamarillo · Solanum acaule · Sodaapple nightshade · Ethiopian nightshade · American black nightshade · Solanum arcanum · New Zealand nightshade · Solanum berthaultii · Tamarillo · Solanum brevicaule · Solanum cajanumense · Bitter Apple
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Solanum muricatum 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.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
