mates of the volume and area of production of lychees in

Mexico are not available, however, it was reported that an

area of 1,025 ha was planted up to 1996 and it is believed that

this figure has at least quadrupled by now (Rindermann and

Cruz, 2001). Unconfirmed estimates show that Mexico is an

nually producing up to 7,000 t of fruit (various importers,

pers. comm.). Duringjune andJuly, Mexican lychees are sold

in the U.S., however the exact volume of sales is not available

as the fruit is considered a specialty crop. Mexican lychees are

in direct competition with Florida fruit. In recent years, ly-

chee prices in the U.S. have fallen and many growers in Flor

ida find it difficult to compete with Mexican growers as they

have the advantage of cheaper production costs and better

growing conditions. One advantage of Florida lychees over

the years has been superior quality. However, Mexican grow

ers have been able to improve the quality of their lychees in

recent years (various importers, per. comm.).

The Future of the Lychee Industry in Florida

Currently, there are restrictions on the import of lychees

from Thailand, China and other producing countries to the

United States. This is because the lychee is considered a host

of fruit flies. In some countries, like Mexico, there are pro

duction areas that are considered fruit fly free zones and,

therefore, the lychee from those areas can be exported to the

U.S. Quarantines have prevented the U.S. market from being

flooded with foreign lychees and have, therefore, enabled the

local growers to sell their fresh lychees at a profitable price.

With the establishment of the first irradiation plant in Hawaii

the future of the lychee industry in Florida may change as it

has been shown that the irradiation treatment would kill any

fruit fly larvae inside the fruit and it is not harmful to the con

sumers. If this system is shown to be effective it would help

those countries close to the U.S. market to send their lychees

by sea. The irradiation treatment system may not be very

beneficial to the Asian producing countries as the airfreight

cost remains high.

Under the present situation with restrictions on offshore

lychees entering the U.S., the Florida lychee growers have an

excellent opportunity to target the Asian American popula

tion as many producers already have done. Lychees are truly

appreciated by the Asian population and according to the

census of 1997, there are 9.5 million Asian Americans living

in the U.S. (U.S. Census Bureau, 1997). Promoting lychees

from Florida and making them available to this huge ethnic

population means a need for a larger volume of lychees than

what is currently being produced in Florida. Between June

andJuly, when lychees are available, if local growers and pack

ing houses would target just 20 percent of this population,

which consumes an estimated 1 lb of fruit per person, 4,000 t

would be needed to satisfy the demand. That is almost four

times more than the current volume produced. This is a good

opportunity that requires considerable marketing initiatives

by the Florida lychee industry.

Literature Cited

Cobin, M. 1954. The Lychee in Florida, Bulletin 546, University ofFlorida Ag

riculture Experiment Stations, Gainesville, FL.

Ghosh, S. P. 2001. World trade in litchi: past present and future. Proc. I Int.

Symp. on Litchi and Longan, pp. 41-44. H. Huang and C. Menzel (eds.).

ActaHort. 558, ISHS 2001.

Knight, R. J., Jr. 1988. Miscellaneous tropical fruits grown and marketed in

Florida. Proc. Interamer. Soc. Trop. Hort. 32:34-41.

Knight, R. J., Jr., 2001. The lychee history and current status in Florida. Proc.

I Int. Symp. on Litchi and Longan, pp. 41-44. H. Huang and C. Menzel

(eds.). Acta Hort. 558, ISHS 2001.

Rindermann, R. and M. A. Gomez-Cruz, 2001. El Litchi la Fruta Mas Fina del

Mundo. Mundi-Prensa Mexico, S.A. de C.V.

U.S. Census Bureau. 1997. http://eire.census.gov/popest/archives/state/.

Zee, F. T. P., H. T. Chan, Jr., and Yen Chung-Ruey. 1998. Lychee, Longan,

Rambutan and Pulasan. In Philip E. Shaw, Harvey T. Chan,Jr., and Steven

Nagy (eds.). Tropical and Subtropical fruits AGScience, Inc., Auburn-

dale, FL. pp. 290-335.

Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. 115:90-92. 2002.

THE 'KAMPONG' AVOCADO

Carl W. Campbell1

University ofFlorida

Tropical Research and Education Center

18905S.W. 280Street

Homestead, FL 33031

and Horticulture Associate, Fairchild Tropical Garden

Richard J. Campbell

Fairchild Tropical Garden

11935 Old Cutler Road

Miami, FL 33156

Additional index words, cultivar, germplasm, Persea americana

'Corresponding author.

Abstract. The 'Kampong' avocado (Persea americana Mill.)

originated as an open-pollinated seedling in Coconut Grove,

Florida, in the early 1900's. It was named for the estate of Dr.

David Fairchild, its place of origin. The 'Kampong' attracted

the attention of local residents because of its consistent pro

duction, good fruit quality, and very late maturity season. The

fruit are ovoid to pyriform, weighing 550 g to 850 g. The skin is

dark green and the pulp is bright yellow when ripe. This culti

var has the characteristic of a Guatemalan x West Indian hy

brid. The 'Kampong' has not been planted commercially in

Florida or elsewhere, but is known as a good cultivar for home

gardens.

The 'Kampong' avocado (Persea americana Mill.) origina

ted in Coconut Grove, Florida in the early 1900s as an open-

pollinated seedling of the 'Cook' cultivar at the Kampong,

the estate of Dr. David Fairchild, chief of the U.S. Dept. ofAg-

90 Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. 115: 2002.

riculture's Office of Foreign Plant Introduction. It attracted

the attention of local researchers and growers because of the

long and very late maturity season of the fruit. Most avocado

cultivars in Florida are harvested from July to December, but

the Kampong will consistently retain a significant amount of

fruit on the tree until March and in some years until May. This

cultivar has not been produced commercially in Florida or

elsewhere, but it has become known as a good cultivar for

home gardens. Trees of 'Kampong' avocado have been graft

ed for a long time in southern Florida and graftwood has

been distributed to other states of the USA and to various oth

er countries. It remains a relatively little known cultivar, how

ever, and can be found mainly in home gardens and cultivar

collections. The information in this paper was compiled from

observations on trees growing in Dade County, Florida.

Description

Brief descriptions have been published previously by

Campbell (1979), Krome (1983), and Popenoe (1963). The

'Kampong' evidently is a hybrid between the Guatemalan and

West Indian races of avocado. The tree is vigorous and will

grow to large size. The canopy will reach a height and breadth

of 20 m or more in southern Florida, and still more on fertile

soils in the tropics. Grafted trees will bloom and bear fruit

three to four years after planting in the field. The tree has

moderate cold tolerance, similar to that of popular Guatema

lan x West Indian hybrid cultivars like 'Booth 8', 'Choquette',

'Monroe' and 'Lula'.

The leaves are dark green, broadly elliptic, and large,

with a length of 18-31 cm and width of 7-11 cm. The inter-

nodes on the twigs are 1.5-3.5 cm long. Annual leaf drop oc

curs from mid-March to mid-April, simultaneously with

flowering. The new leaves emerge quickly, so the trees are

bare only briefly.

The trees have type B flowers which open from early

March to mid-April. Isolated trees produce a crop of fruit reg

ularly, apparently without cross-pollination from other culti

vars. It is possible that cross-pollination would result in

greater fruit production, but that has not been established by

experimental work. The trees produce crops of moderate size

quite regularly, every year if no freezes occur. Mature trees

can be expected to produce 275-330 kg of fruit annually if

they receive good care.

The fruit (Fig. 1) is ovoid to pyriform, weighing 550-850

g. Fruit size depends upon the amount of fruit on the tree.

The pedicel of the fruit is relatively thick and the fruit is not

easily blown from the tree by wind. The seed is tight in the cav

ity of the fruit and weighs about 120 g.

The skin of the fruit is smooth and dark green, with little

change in color as the fruit ripens. The skin is of medium

thickness and pliable. There are relatively few stone cells in

the pulp adjacent to the skin, and those are small and not ob

jectionable to consumers. The pulp has a bright yellow color

and a smooth, buttery texture. The flavor is good to excellent.

The leaves and fruit are susceptible to Cercospora spot,

caused by the fungus Cercospora purpurea, and anthracnose or

black spot, caused by the fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporioides.

Both of these diseases can be controlled by application offun

gicides. Disease control would be necessary for production of

a commercial crop free of undesirable fungal lesions, but a

moderate crop can be produced in the home garden without

application of fungicides.

Fig. 1. The 'Kampong' avocado.

Discussion

It is reasonable to believe that the 'Kampong' avocado is a

Guatemalan x West Indian hybrid because it has the typical

characteristics of one, the mother tree was of the Guatemalan

race, and there were many West Indian avocado trees growing

in the vicinity where the mother tree was located. Florida

growers never have adopted the 'Kampong' as a commercial

cultivar for several reasons. Firsdy, it matures much later than

the "traditional" season ofJuly to December when most Flori

da cultivars are harvested and sold. Secondly, the maturity sea

son of 'Kampong', and therefore the harvest period, is long.

Many growers consider a long harvest period to be a disadvan

tage, although this opinion is not held by everyone. Also, al

though the 'Kampong' bears moderate crops of fruit very

regularly, it is not as productive as several other cultivars which

make up the majority of the commercial crop of Florida.

On the other hand, the 'Kampong' lends itself well for

home gardens, especially for growers who wish to have a very

late-maturing cultivar of good quality at a time of year when

local avocados are scarce. An additional advantage is the long

maturity season. Fruit which will ripen with acceptable eating

quality can be harvested at the beginning of December, and

harvest can continue in most years until the end of March,

and in some years until late May. Most home garden growers

consider that to be a great advantage. It should be mentioned

that severe Cercospora spot infection causes early fruit drop,

so the best way to assure a crop of late fruit is to apply fungi

cides to prevent infection. These applications will also control

anthracnose spot. Trees of many avocado cultivars cause

problems for gardeners with limited space available because

they grow fast and become very large. The 'Kampong' is one

of these. Growers who selectively prune back 3 or 4 of the

longer branches each year after fruit harvest can keep the

canopy to a smaller size and still get a reasonable crop of fruit

on the unpruned branches.

Conclusion

The 'Kampong' avocado has many desirable genetic char

acteristics, and therefore is a valuable addition to any avocado

germplasm collection. Although it has not been tested exten

sively in many places, there is good reason to believe that it

has the wide climatic adaptability that is typical of Guatema-

Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. 115: 2002. 91

Ian x West Indian avocado cultivars. Although the 'Kampong'

has not attained commercial importance, it is possible that in

the future it might be adaptable to a changing agriculture in

which specialty crops would have importance. Certainly the

'Kampong' avocado has proved to be a good home garden

cultivar in Florida, and it can be recommended for that with

out reservation.

Literature Cited

Campbell C. W. 1979. Characteristics of Florida avocado cultivars. Univ. Flor-

ida-IFAS. Homestead AREC Res. Rept. SB 79-5.

Krome, W. H. 1983. Avocado cultivars for the home garden. Rare Fruit Coun

cil Intl. Inc. Newsletter 17:8-9.

Popenoe, J. 1963. Spring avocado varieties for South Florida. Proc. Carib.

Reg. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 7:80-83.

Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. 115:93-93. 2002.

THE 'ARKIN' CARAMBOLA IN FLORIDA

RobertJ. Knight, Jr. andJonathan H. Crane

University ofFlorida

Tropical Research and Education Center

Homestead, FL 33031

Additional index words. Averrhoa carambola, cultivar improve

ment, tropical pomology

Abstract. 'Arkin' carambola (Averrhoa carambola L.) grew from

seed collected in Malaysia in 1973 that were planted in Miami,

Florida where it was selected. 'Arkin' is the most successful

cultivar in commerce to date because it resists stresses of

picking, packing and shipping, and has fruit quality that is ac

ceptable in the market. The fruit is low in acid, and thus is con

sidered a sweet carambola even though its sugar content is

lower than that of some other cultivars. Of others tested in

Florida, 'Kary', from Hawaii, and 'B-10', from Malaysia, are

grown on a small commercial scale. Members of a group that

includes 'Demak', Twang Tung' and Hew-1' do not appear to

have as much commercial potential although each has various

traits of value.

'Arkin' is a sweet carambola of superior commercial poten

tial because the fruit's firmness and compact structure help it

withstand packing and shipping stress more successfully than

other cultivars tested in Florida. The fruit's low acidity and ap

pealing flavor also make it more popular with the consumer

than other carambolas currently available in quantity here.

Origin

'Arkin' originated from seed collected in 1973 during a

plant exploration trip to Malaysia and Thailand (Knight,

1989). The seed was planted by S. W. Younghans, who gave

one of the resultant seedling plants to M. Arkin, of Coral Ga

bles, who raised the seedling on his property and selected the

tree when it first fruited, in 1976. Grafted trees from the orig

inal selection were then tested by private growers and public

experiment stations in southern Florida, and grafted plants of

this cultivar were first sold by M. Arkin in 1978.

This research was supported by the Florida Agricultural Experiment Sta

tion, and approved for publication as Journal Series No. N-02302.

'Corresponding author.

Description

The 'Arkin' tree has an intermediate to moderately up

right growth habit, reaching 6 to 7 m height in 10 yr, with a

spread of approximately 5 m. Fruit are well distributed along

the limbs throughout the tree and not clumped, as is true of

some carambolas. Two crops a year are the norm in Florida,

with a third crop possible when the winter is mild. First flow

ering occurs in April or May, and fruit ripen fromJuly to Sep

tember and on into autumn. The second flowering occurs

from October to November, with fruit ripening fromJanuary

to March. Man-made windscreens with or without hail-cloth

roofs, erected to surround plantings, make it profitable to

prolong the harvest into February-March.

The fruit of 'Arkin' are cylindrically pointed, with five in

dentations separating each locule into a distinct rib as is char

acteristic of all carambola fruit, and forming star-shaped

segments when cut into cross-sections. The external color is

deep yellow, with a shiny gloss that adds eye appeal. The pulp

is yellow, crisp, juicy, and pleasantly sweet, with a mild aroma

that suggests the fragrance of tea roses.

Analysis of field-run fruit of 'Arkin' grown at the USDA

Subtropical Horticulture Research Station and Clonal Repos

itory, Miami, showed total soluble solids (TSS) content of

7.2%, with fruit acids of 0.212% (expressed as citric acid). De

tailed sugar and acids analysis of 'Arkin' found glucose and

fructose to be the primary sugars with small amounts of su

crose present; the primary acids in 'Arkin' were oxalic and

malic acids (Campbell and Koch, 1989).

Total soluble solids content from subsequent analyses

found the range in TSS fromJuly-harvested fruit to be 4 to 8%

(mean 6.8%) and that from November-harvested fruit to be 6

to 8% (mean 7.1%) (Crane etal., 1998). Fruit firmness of'Ar

kin' is superior to that of most other carambola cultivars. The

ribs are unusually thick and resistant to bruising during har

vest and handling, a problem that causes a high rate of rejec

tion of carambola fruit between the field and packing house,

and contributes to disease development during storage and

shipping.

Carambolas normally are self-incompatible and distylous,

requiring cross-pollination for fruit production. Earlier inves

tigation of 'Golden Star', a tart-fruited cultivar with long-

styled flowers, demonstrated that a partial loss of self-incom

patibility enables 'Golden Star' to bear full crops when set in

92 Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. 115: 2002.