imbe

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imbe (plural imbes)

1. The originally African tree Garcinia livingstonei.
   • 1928, Otis Warren Barrett, The Tropical Crops

     The danealan, G. subelliptica, is a 30- to 40-foot tree of the eastern coast of Luzon. [...] The imbe has fruited in southern Florida, but probably it is too exacting in its ecological requirements for general cultivation.

   • 1944, John MacLaren Waterston, Fruit Culture in Bermuda ...

     Garcinia livingstonei T. Anders., The Imbe, Guttiferae.

     The Imbe has proved quite hardy and successful on the sandy and limestone rock soils of Southern Florida. The fruit obtained [...]

   • 1960, William Crawford Kennard, H. F. Winters, Some Fruits and Nuts for the Tropics, page 67:

     Figure 46. - The imbe, Garcinia livingstonei.

   • 1993, Tropical Fruit News, page 102:

     Trees grow slowly and this makes them ideal for pot culture; in fact, many people grow imbe as a container tropical fruit for small landscapes. Imbes have separate sexes, so this means you have to have both a male and a female tree ...

   • 1993, James J. Darley, Know and Enjoy Tropical Fruit: Tropical Fruit and Nuts: a Cornucopia, P&S Publishing (→ISBN), page 45:

     Purple mangosteen trees have only female flowers and pollen fertilisation is not required. [...] Other Garcinia species, have less to recommend them as a fruit tree; the imbe (G. livingstonei) is small fruited, has a large seed and a little sour flesh.

   • 2006, Susanna Lyle, Discovering Fruit & Nuts: A Comprehensive Guide to the Cultivation, Uses and Health Benefits of Over 300 Food-Producing Plants:

     (Guttiferae) Relatives: mangosteen

     A native of eastern Africa, the imbe forms an interestingly-shaped tree and has numerous sweet-sub-acid, tasty bright orange fruits, which can be eaten fresh. It is only cultivated locally ...

   • 2008, National Research Council, Policy and Global Affairs, Development, Security, and Cooperation, Lost Crops of Africa: Volume III: Fruits, National Academies Press (→ISBN), page 291:

     Africa's best-known mangosteen relative is the imbe, a tree whose soft and colorful fruits brighten up markets [...]. Imbes come from a shrub or small tree with a dense spreading or conical crown topping a short, often twisted trunk [...]

• imbé (“the South American liana Philodendron imbe”)

From Proto-Germanic *imbijaz, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *a(m)pi- (“stinging insect, bee”). Cognate with Middle Dutch imme (Dutch imme) and Old High German imbi (German Imme). The proposed Indo-European root would also be the source of Ancient Greek ἐμπίς (empís), Latin apis.

• IPA^(key): /ˈimbe/

imbe n

1. swarm of bees

Only attested in late form ymbe.

• IPA^(key): /ˈimʲbʲe/

imbe n

1. verbal noun of im·fen