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Bunchosia armeniaca (Bunchosia armeniaca)

Description

Bunchosia armeniaca, commonly known as peanut butter fruit, is a species of shrub or tree in the family Malpighiaceae native to northwestern South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil and Perú). Bunchosia armeniaca can attain a height of 20 meters, but it commonly reaches 5 meters high. It can be found between 100–2600 m of elevation in a wide range of ecological habitats. Bunchosia armeniaca yields a fruit that is very sweet, however its unremarkable flavour usually means it used as an additive to dishes. The fruit have a thin layer of cloying red pulp that adheres strongly to the seeds, hence its Spanish name 'cansa boca' (tires the mouth). The two seeds in each berry are poisonous. Due to rapid spoiling on the tree, the fruit are harvested while still a creamy-green and ripened to a red colour indoors.

Taxonomic tree

  • Domain: Eukarya

    • Kingdom: Plantae

      • Phylum:

        • Class: Magnoliopsida

          • Order: Malpighiales

            • Family: Malpighiaceae

              • Genus: Bunchosia