This tree, which is a native of Mexico, is said to have been named after Cardinal Casimiro Gomez. The first tree of its kind in Hawaii was planted in 1884, at the Government Nursery, Honolulu. The seed came from Santa Barbara, California, where there grows today, a tree more than eighty years old, and which still bears its fruit. It is a tall evergreen with irregular branches; its digitate leaves are dark and glossy. The trunk is ashen-grey, with warty excrescences. The fruit, which matures in April and May, is large, 1 to 4 inches in diameter; it is depressed-globular and somewhat ribbed, like a tomato; in color it is a light-green, turning to a dull yellow when ripe, and it has a very thin skin. The pulp is yellow, resembling that of an over-ripe, and has a melting, peach-like flavor. It contains from 1 to 3 large, oblong seeds, which are said to be deleterious. Plate XX. |