Marula Seeds

[Tim-Gabz]

I am resident in Botswana. I have been growing a few small Acacia trees as a hobby. I am embarking on doing the Same with Marula trees. What inspired me was the hundreds of dropped fruit outside my office and the Baboons that visit frequently. Doing an internet search I came across this site and some decent information, one of which is a general difficulty to get the seed initially.

Would anyone on this forum like me to post some over if your laws permit? What treatment would I need to do to the seeds to safely get them to Oz?

[ho-hum]

Tim-Gabz,

Welcome to the forum.

When I first saw the thread I thought it was someone else chasing marula seed... Thank you for the offer. I do think we have a few marula trees in Australia although I have never seen one here.

The problem sending seed into Australia is that it needs some form of official documentation accompanying it, otherwise customs are likely to decree it is the seed of the ''Giant African Dope Plant'' and toss it out.

Customs need to know it is clean, correctly identified and not on their list of banned, problem or potential problem plants.

I was once given, just as I was leaving, 3 loofahs complete with seeds [in Indonesia] I carried them back to Australia and declared them. I also offered them to quarantine to destroy if they wanted. The lady said there was no need, sprayed the bag of loofahs with flyspray and gave them back. I was surprised.

Now if you happen across any legal hoodia gordonii seed a few of us would certainly make that worth your while.

Again, welcome and big thank-you.

floot

[teela]

YES!!! Please I would like some of these seeds. I have been trying to get my hands on some of these Marula seeds for quite a while now.
Not sure of the correct procedure for sending them from overseas? Perhaps contact The Department of Primary Industries?
OR anyone from Aust who has any they could send me?
Does anyone know if they are easy to grow from cuttings?
Teela

[oz4me]

I have several hundred Marula seeds here in Qld if anyone is interested in purchasing some

[paradisi]

Hi tim-gabz

this link will let you know what's legal and what's not for sending to Australia http://www.aqis.gov.au/icon32/asp/ex_querycontent.asp

When you send it to Australia it must be clearly labelled as Sclerocarya birrea and the seed must be clean and NOT packed in other plant material.

If you do this you shouldn't have any problems.

Cheers and good luck Tony

[Michaelangelica]

Interesting plant. mainly for the desert?

Sclerocarya birrea ssp. caffra

Authority (Sond.) J.O. Kokwaro.
Family Magnoliopsida:Rosidae:Sapindales:Anacardiaceae
Synonyms Sclerocarya caffra (A. Rich.) Hochst., Spondias birrea A. Rich.
Common names marula, morula, caffra, jelly plum, maroola nut, cat thorn, cider tree, maroola plum, maroela, dania, mng' ong'o, muua, ol-mangwai, iganu, ikanyi, umganu, umkano, canhoeiro, ncanhi, mutsomo, mukwakwa, mushomo, muganu, mupfura, pfura, mufura, mafuna, mngongo, tsua, tsula, amaganu, tololokwo, nkanyi, didissa, katetalum, ufuongo, mura, umgana, mufula
Editor
Ecocrop code 45894

http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/cropView?id=45894

Domestication and Introduction of Marula (Sclerocarya birrea subsp. Caffra) as a New Crop for the Negev Desert of Israel
Avinoam Nerd and Yosef Mizrahi*

1. METHODOLOGY
2. PLANT PERFORMANCE AND PHENOLOGY
3. FRUIT RIPENING
4. CONCLUSIONS
5. REFERENCES
6. Table 1
7. Table 2
8. Fig. 1
9. Fig. 2
10. Fig. 3
11. Fig. 4

Marula (Sclerocarya birrea subsp. caffra, Anacardiaceae) is a large dioecious deciduous tree found in southern Africa, mostly south of the Zambesi river (Palgrave 1984). The tree is highly prized by local people for its fruits. Female trees bear plum-sized stone fruits with a thick yellow peel and a translucent, white, highly aromatic, sweet-sour flesh which is eaten fresh, or used to prepare juices and alcoholic beverages. The seeds inside the stone are also eaten they have a delicate nutty taste and a high nutritive value and high (up to 56%) oil content (Shone 1979).

Recently, an effort has been made to domesticate the tree in southern Africa and Israel in order to establish orchards that will supply both fresh fruit and fruit for the canning and beverage industry (Fig. 1) (Weinert et al. 1990; Nerd et al. 1990). This paper describes plant performance in four introduction orchards established at different locations in the Negev Desert of Israel and postharvest physiology of the fruits.

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/p...93/v2-496.html
Still colecting seed?
*Sclerocarya birrea ssp caffra
http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/25578...ous_Fruit.html

[Michaelangelica]

Now if you happen across any legal hoodia gordonii seed a few of us would certainly make that worth your while.

floot

Any luck tracking this down?

Most other S African succulents are weeds here.
Good article on it here
http://www.herbresearch.de/fr/medici...-ex-decne.html

[Shawburn]

Tim-Gabz propagation of marula is done with Cuttings from Trees that produce well.
There are nurseries and projects in RSA that do propagation of high quantities. The trees propagated are used in commercial plantings of Marula.
Trees from seeds may be quite poor when it comes to Fruit production and growth rate.
Wood from Marula is widely used for carving in Africa but the good trees were left standing and not cut down.