BATS and ROSE APPLES

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ROSE APPLE . . . THAT'S A SWEET NAME.

The rose apple is a sweet fruit; sweet to smell, sweet to eat.

ARE ROSE APPLES IN THE RUNNING FOR THE "WORLD'S FAVOURITE FRUIT" ALONG WITH BANANAS AND MANGOES?

No. The rose apple grows in many tropical countries, but it is eaten fresh, mainly by children. It is rarely, if ever, sold in a market. The thin skin of the rose apple is fragile and the flesh loses its appealing crispness soon after it is picked.(1)

I ASSUME THAT BATS AS WELL AS CHILDREN ENJOY ROSE APPLES.

They do. Several kinds of flying foxes in the old world tropics include rose apples in their diets.(2,3) The fruit is hollow and has 1 to 4 seeds which rattle around in the hollow cavity.(1) Rose apple trees reproduce mainly from seeds, so flying foxes help to disperse rose apple seeds away from the parent trees.

H.F. Howe reported in a journal article published in 1974 that the Jamaican fig-eating bat, Ariteus flavescens, fed on rose apple fruits.(4)

ROSE APPLES AREN'T IMPORTANT COMMERCIALLY AND DON'T SEEM TO BE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT LOCALLY. SO FAR THE ROSE APPLE DOES NOT HAVE AN IMPRESSIVE POSITION ON THE BAT-PLANT CHART.

It is true the fruit isn't important commercially, but the the trees themselves, the timber, branches, bark, leaves, roots, flowers and fruit seeds have an impressive list of local uses.(1)

• The evergreen trees with their showy flowers are popular as ornamental trees.
• The trees can be grown as hedges and are used to enclose coffee plantations in Guatamala.
• The tree branches are used to make hoops for large barrels and for making large baskets in Puerto Rico.
• Tree bark
  • tanning leather
  • brown dye
  • medication for treating asthma and bronchitis
• Tree wood
  • building houses
  • building boats
  • making furniture
  • making wheel spokes
  • making packing boxes
  • making musical instruments
• Tree flowers
  • nectar is converted by honey bees into good quality honey
• Fruit seeds
  • treatment for dysyntery, diarrhea, catarrh, diabetes
  • have anesthetic properties
• Tree leaves
  • treatment for sore eyes, rheumatism, reduce fevers, cool small pox pustules
• Tree roots
  • treat epilepsy

AND VERY IMPORTANTLY

when trees are cut down, they quickly put up new growth and provide for one of the greatest need in rural life

FIREWOOD

AND ALSO

with the help of seed-planting bats, rose apple trees grow wild in the countryside. The fruits can provide a lost, hungry human being with welcome nourishment.(1)

HMMMM, WELL, THAT IS INTERESTING. THE ROSE APPLE DOESN'T HAVE A HIGH RANKING AMONG THE WORLD'S FRUITS, IT DOESN'T MAKE A LOT OF MONEY LOCALLY FOR PEOPLE LIKE THE DURIAN DOES, BUT IT HAS NUMEROUS AND VALUABLE USES.

WHERE IN THE WORLD MIGHT I BE A LOST AND HUNGRY TRAVELLER WHEN I HAPPILY FALL INTO THE ARMS OF A ROSE APPLE TREE BEARING RIPE FRUIT?

Originally you would have been in the East Indies and Malaya. But now you could be in India, Ceylon, the Pacific Islands, Jamaica, Bermuda, the Bahamas, West Indies, southern Mexico to Peru, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Hawaii, Africa, Australia and Israel. (1)

Reference:
(1) Morton, Julia, 1987, Fruits of Warm Climates, 1987, pages 383-386; http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton

(2)Fujita, M.S. 1991. Flying Fox (Chiroptera:Pteropodidae) Pollination, Seed Dispersal, and Economic Importance: A Tabular Summary of Current Knowledge, Resource Publication No. 2, Bat Conservation International

(3)BATS, Bat Conservation International, Winter 1989-90, Volume 7, Number 4

(4) Nowak, Ronald, M. 1991. Walker’s Bats of the World, The John Hopkins University Press, citing: Howe, H.F. 1974. Additional records of Phyllonycteris aphylla and Ariteus flavescens from Jamaica. J. Mamm. 55:662-3

Text and illustrations by ML Alley-Crosby who thanks Dr. Merlin D. Tuttle, Founder and President Emeritus, Bat Conservation International, Austin, Texas, for permission to use his photograph of the hammer-headed fruit bat as illustrative source material.