Study on Floral and Fruit biology of Ma Lord (Elaeagnus latifolia L.)

Abstract

Ma Lord (Elaeagnus latifolia L.) is a tropical fruit and found growing in humid tropical forest, especially in the North and Northeast of Thailand. The biology of flowers and fruits were studied at the Agricultural Experimental and Training Station at KKU and Chulabhornûs Dam in Konsan subdistrict Chaiyaphum Province. It was found that flowers began to initiate at the upper base of the leave and took 12-16 weeks to develope until blooming. The size of a mature male flower was 2.39 mm in diameter and 4.56 mm in length, while the size of a mature female flower was 2.48 mm in diameter and 4.58 mm in length. On average, there were 35 florets per inflorescence. The fruit was a simple fruit and fleshy drupe. Each inflorescence yielded about 3 fruits. The fruit had an oval shape with a diameter of 26.40 mm and 36.76 mm in length. The fruit exocarp was green initially and turned red when ripe. The vitamin C content was 0.305 mg./100 g. The acidity and tannin content were 3.3 and 0.98 % of the total soluble solid 14  Brix, respectively.