Rutaceae FAMILY

Casimiroa tetrameria

Edibility

3/5

Medicinal

0/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Tree

Growth—

Prefers an open, well-drained site on a loamy soil^[1]. Established plants are drought resistant, though they need adequate moisture if they are to fruit well^[1]. Trees can commence flowering and fruiting when 6 - 8 years old from seed^[2]. Grafted trees can commence fruiting in 3 - 4 years^[2]. The tree can flower and produce fruit on a number of occasions each year^[2]. Mature trees can produce more than 100 kilos of fruit each year^[2]. There is at least one named variety^[3].

Propagation

Seed - sow in containers. Trees produce taproots, so the seed should be sown in deep containers and the plants moved straight to their permanent positions once they are large enough^[2]. Seed of cultivars does not breed true^[1]. Layering^[1]. Commercial growers in New Zealand have had success with air-layers^[4]. Cuttings are very difficult to root^[4]. Grafting. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Casimiroa+tetrameria>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

[1]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
[2]Trade Winds Fruit — http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/index.htm ↩︎The on-line catalogue of a company selling seeds. Gives descriptions, photos and uses of a very wide range of fruit and other food-producing plants plus ornamentals.
[3]Cornucopia II — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications, California. · 1998 · ISBN 0-9628087-2-5 ↩︎The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.
[4]World Agroforesty Centre — http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ ↩︎An excellent online database of a huge range of trees giving very good information on each plant - its uses, ecology, identity, propagation, pests etc.
[5]Flora of Guatemala — Standley P.C. & J. A. Steyermark · 1946 - 1976 · http://www.archive.org/ ↩︎A superb reference, though somewhat dated. Gives lots of plant uses as well as information on plant habit and habitat. The entire flora (13 volumes) can now be downloaded from http://www.archive.org/