Parahancornia peruviana

I spend a lot of time counting and marking seedlings and then going back every couple of weeks to see what happens to them (see Regeneration Surveys and The Importance of Looking Down). Tedious. But extremely informative. The species shown here is Parahancornia peruviana (Apocynaceae), and the seedlings are growing in the arboretum at Jenaro Herrera in Peru (see Learning the Names). Which goes a long way in explaining why some of the seedlings are growing right out of the fruit. Not a lot of frugivores in the arboretum.  The fruits of Parahancornia peruviana are actually quite sweet and delicious.  They have a slight citrus smell and, given the appearance of the fruit, are known locally as "naranjo podrido" or rotten orange. [NOTE: This image was scanned from a slide taken in 1986].