Ice plant is named after the shimmering silvery dots that cover the leaves. Other names used for it are fig marigold (after the edible fruits), frost plant, diamond plant, mid-day flowers, and dew plant. This is not to be confused with New Zealand spinach, which is sometimes referred to in gardening booklets as New Zealand ice plant.

The plant is a perennial, but is grown in gardens as an annual. It is a small (about the size of bibb lettuce), peculiar looking plant with numerous 12–15 inch long stems. Blades of the leaves widen towards the outer ends and become narrow near the stalk.

All green parts of the plant are covered with small, transparent, membranous bladders, which give the plant the appearance of being covered with frozen dew. Each tiny, white flower has a swollen calyx covered with the bladders. Seeds are very small, black, and shiny.

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Jonathan H. Crane, Carlos F. Balerdi, and Ian Maguire²

Figure 1.  Cleaning a ripe jackfruit.
Credit: Ian Maguire, UF/IFAS TREC
[Click thumbnail to enlarge.]

Scientific names: Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.

Synonyms: Artocarpus integrifolius Auct.; A. integra Merr.

Other common names: English—jakfruit, jak; Spanish—jaca; Portuguese—jaca, jaqueira

Family: Moraceae

Relatives in the same family: Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis), fig (Ficus sp.), mulberry (Morus sp.), champedak (A. integer), kwai muk (A. lingnanensis), Ficus benjamina.

Origin: Probably India

Distribution: India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, China, Malaysia, Philippines, Australia, Kenya, Uganda, Mauritius, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Jackfruit is not widely cultivated in the US but may be found in south Florida and Hawaii.

Importance: Jackfruit is important in India and other Asian countries like Sri Lanka, southern China, Malaysia, and Myanmar. There is limited production in Australia, Mauritius, Brazil, Surinam, Jamaica, Mexico, Hawaii, and south Florida.

Description

Trees. Erect, evergreen, fairly large tree, 30 to 40 feet (9–12 m) tall in Florida (Figure 2).

Figure 2.  Seedling jackfruit tree trunk area.
Credit: Ian Maguire, UF/IFAS TREC
[Click thumbnail to enlarge.]

Leaves. Dark green, alternate, glossy and somewhat leathery, fairly large and oval shaped on mature wood and deeply lobed on young shoots (Figure 3). All parts of the leaf contain a sticky white latex.

Crisphead lettuce made up about 5,000 acres of this lettuce acreage, and the average crisphead lettuce yield is estimated to be 600 50-lb cartons per acre.

Crisphead lettuce is a moderately expensive crop to produce with costs for production, harvesting, and marketing averaging $3,400 per acre (Smith and Taylor, 1991). Fertilizer accounts for about 10% of the total preharvest costs for lettuce (Smith and Taylor, 1991).

During the last 15 years, considerable research has been conducted on lettuce fertilization on the organic soils of Florida with emphasis on the EAA. Optimum fertilization is important for maximizing yields and quality and for minimizing negative impacts to the environment resulting from overfertilization.

Importance: Mangos are universally considered one of the finest fruits and are one of the most important fruit crops in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Increasing commercial acreage and improved handling methods and shipping throughout the world have increased the mango's popularity and availability in US markets. Major producers include India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil, and the Philippines. Other important producers are Australia, South Africa, Israel, and Egypt. In the U.S., Florida, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii have small but locally important industries.

Description

Tree

A medium to large (30 to 100 ft; 9.1 to 30.5 m), evergreen tree, with a symmetrical, rounded canopy ranging from low and dense to upright and open.

Figure 1.  Naranjillo
Credit: James M. Stephens
[Click thumbnail to enlarge.]

Description and Use

A specimen plant grown at Gainesville, FL, in 1983 was observed in mid-November to be fairly mature but without fruit. It was seeded the last of August and placed in the garden the first of September. The striking leaves were shaped like those of eggplant. An average leaf measures 8 to 12 inches long by 6 inches wide. The largest leaves were 20 inches long and 12 to 15 inches wide. Leaf veins were purple, contrasting vividly with a dull green leaf surface that is somewhat iridescent. Leaves are covered on top and bottom by short fuzz, as were the stems and petioles.

Fruit are sometimes called "golden fruit of the Andes." The golf-ball sized fruits are filled with gelatin and are used in drinks and sauces. They ripen to a golden yellow color and are slightly rough in texture. The acidic, green interior contains several white seeds.

As the names imply, the top bears the bulb, bulbils, or bulblets, instead of flowers and seeds. No bulb forms at the base of the stem, but several offsets are produced there. Otherwise the tree onion plant resembles a green onion plant or, more closely, a shallot. Rocambole, a topsetting garlic, is similar, but it has flat leaves instead of the hollow leaves of tree onion.

Plant

It is a vigorous vine. Both yellow and purple passion fruit have trilobate leaves 4-7 "(10-18 cm) in length with finely serrated margins. Giant granadilla has rounded leaves 4-8 "(10-20 cm) in length and its stem is characteristically square when cut transversely.
Giant granadilla produces an irregularly rounded or oblong fruit that has a length of 4-8 "(10-20 cm) and has, in addition to the seeds surrounded by juice, a thick edible pulp. It can achieve a weight of 8-16 oz (225-450 g) or more.
flowers

Purple passion fruit flowers are usually smaller in diameter than yellow ones, around 1.75 "(4.5 cm) and 2.5" (6 cm), respectively. Both have a pale white color with intense blue centers. The flowers of the giant granadilla are completely different; Are arranged as the screens of ancient lamps and their petals are intense brown on the inner surface.
Fruiting season
Purple passion fruit flowers in early spring in Florida; Its fruits ripen from 60 to 80 days later, so that the same can be expected in late May until early July. Yellow passion fruit grows from spring to late autumn, with a rest period in early summer, so ripe fruits appear at intervals from early summer to winter. Giant granadilla begins its flowering in the spring and its fruits ripen in the summer. It can continue to bloom throughout the summer but commonly produces no fruit at that season in Florida probably because high temperatures interfere with normal fertilization after pollination. When the weather becomes cooler,
fruit

The fruit of the purple passion fruit has a round or oval shape and possesses dark purple or almost black seeds. Weighs 30 g (1-1.5 oz). The fruit of yellow passion fruit has an intense yellow color similar to purple but is slightly longer, 2.5 "(6 cm). It can reach a weight of 2-3 oz (60-90 g), but the average in Florida conditions is around 2.5 oz (75 g). The fruits contain numerous small wedge-shaped seeds that are individually surrounded by dark orange sacs (aryls) containing the juice, the edible part of the fruit.

Grading Information

Grower and Breeder Information