About Matisia cordata Humb. & Bonpl.
Matisia cordata Humb. & Bonpl., commonly known as chupa-chupa, is a tree that produces orange-yellow fruits. The fruits are soft, juicy, and sweet, and each holds 2 to 5 seeds. These fruits are most often eaten fresh by hand, but they can also be made into juice. While the fruit is generally popular, its quality varies between trees: some trees produce fruits that are flavorless or overly fibrous. Very little work has been done to develop or identify preferred cultivated varieties of this species. This tree grows best in wet, deep soils, but it can be easily killed by flooding. Matisia cordata is native to the Andean foothills, and it is commonly found across parts of Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, and rural southern Panama. It is not widely cultivated, has not gained much international recognition, and has not been widely planted outside of its native range. In 1964, American pomologist Bill Whitman acquired seeds of this species from Peru, and planted a tree in his garden in Bal Harbour, Florida. That tree has gone on to produce fruit successfully.
