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Edible History
Trails
Edible History
This part of the Preserve tells the story about the plants that fed the people of The Bahamas.
Setting the scene is a Lucayan (indigenous Indian) hut, built by hand from Bahamian pine stands at the entrance to the edible history garden. Here, plants that sustained the Lucayans – including the white Eleuthera pineapple, sea grapes and coco plum are brought together for the first time in hundreds of years. The fruits and vegetables including citrus oranges, and key limes imported by the Spanish and the sugar cane, and mangos imported by the English settlers, as well as the food crops, plantain, pigeon peas and okra cultivated by the Africans are also on display.
Notice the red dirt found in the beds. This red dirt is naturally blown to The Bahamas from the African Sahara Dessert, swept up high in the clouds during major dust storms and then deposited in The Bahamas usually during hurricanes. The dirt is high in iron and increases the acidity of the very alkaline Bahamian soil, making it better suited for farming. The island of Eleuthera has a lot of this red soil, typical of the Easterly Bahamian Islands.
Browse the plants found in this area below.
EDIBLE HISTORY GARDEN
LUCAYAN
Coconut Palm
Cocos nucifera
Sea Grape
Coccoloba uvifera
Cassava
Manihot esculenta
Coco plum
Chrysobalanus iacao
Corn
Zea mays
Pineapple
Ananas comosus
SPANISH
Genipe
Meliloccus bijugatus
Guava
Psidium guajaba
Dilly
Manilikara zapota
Soup Sop
Annona muricata
Sugar Apple
Annona squamosal
Custard Apple
Annona sp.
Mammea
Mamey sapote
BRITISH
Persian Lime
Citrus x. latifolia
Key Lime
Citrus aurantifolia
Orange
Citrus x. sinensis
Hog Plum
Spondias purpurea
Bread Fruit
Artocarpus altilis
Papaya
Carica papaya
Sugar Cane
Saccharum sp.
Avocado
Peresea americana
Tamarind
Tamarindus indica
Jujube
Ziziphus jujuba
Banana
Musa × paradisiaca
Mango
Mangifera indica
MODERN
Java Plum
Syszygium cumini
Governor's Plum
Flacourtia ramontichi
Goose Berry
Phyllanthus acidus
All Spice
Pimenta dioicia
Noni
Morinda citrifiloia
Star Fruit
Averrhoa carambola
Barbados Cherry
Malpighia glabra
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