Bunchosia armeniaca

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).[2][3]

Bunchosia armeniaca
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
(Cav.) DC.
Synonyms[1]
  • Bunchosia armeniaca f. parvifolia Nied.
  • Bunchosia armeniaca f. systyla Nied.
  • Bunchosia pilocarpa Rusby
  • Malpighia armeniaca Cav.

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.[4][5][6][7][8]

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.

References
  1. The Plant List, Bunchosia armeniaca
  2. Tropicos, Bunchosia armeniaca
  3. Funk, V. A., P. E. Berry, S. Alexander, T. H. Hollowell & C. L. Kelloff. 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 55: 1–584
  4. Candolle, Augustin Pyramus de. 1824. Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis 1: 582, Bunchosia armeniaca
  5. Cavanilles, Antonio José. 1789. Monadelphiae Classis Dissertationes Decem 8: 410, t. 238, Malpighia armeniaca
  6. Rusby, Henry Hurd. 1907. Bulletin of the New York Botanical Garden 4: 333, Bunchosia pilocarpa
  7. 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
  8. 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


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