Drupe

The fruit of tallow wood (Ximena americana) is a drupe. A drupe is a thin-skinned fleshy fruit with a central stone containing the seed. Examples includes plums, cherries, and olives. Other common names for tallow wood include yellow plum, hog plum, sea lemon, and purge nut.

Fruiting usually occurs from July through November, and the nickel to quarter-sized fruits are bright yellow to orange-ish when ripe. The fragrant fruits are tasty raw and can be made into jams/jellies and fermented into wine, beer, and kombucha. Aboriginal peoples throughout this world use these fruits for food and for medicine. Gopher tortoises favor the fruits, too..

Inside each drupe is a single seed that floats. Only 1% of all seeds have this capability and often are called “sea beans”. Ocean currents likely are responsible for the global tropical distribution of this plant: Africa, Asia, Australia & the Americas.

The seeds contain hydrocyanic acid and have purgative properties giving rise the common name purge nut. Oil extracted from the seeds is used in hair and skin care products. This use is the reason for the common name tallow wood. Tallow is an animal-based fat.

Sea lemon references its coastal distribution and affinity for sandy places. You’ll see it in xeric hammocks and scrubby places, which often are relic beach dunes. It grows in the scrubby pine flat woods area at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area on the north and the south side of Oslo Road, where it often is the victim of substantial pruning due to its thorny-ness.

Notice the zig-zag growth habit of the stems. Its alternate leaves are glabrous (smooth) and oblong to elliptical in shape. New fresh leaves can be reddish color.

Leaves can vary from yellowish chartreuse to emerald green. Some speculate that color difference is related to soil moisture. Other folks believe that the color differences are be related to extra nutrients siphoned from the roots of nearby plants via specialized root structures called haustoria. Tallow wood is a hemi-parasite: it performs photosynthesis and hijacks nutrients form a wide range of other plants especially scrub oaks.

Tallow wood grows as a large sprawling shrub or as a small tree (10 – 20′) and is shown below in association with silver-blue saw palmetto (Serenoa repens).

Its flowers throughout the year peaking from spring through fall. The flowers are somewhat inconspicuous, yellowish white, and fragrant. Look closely, and you’ll find the inside of the petals to be oddly “bearded”. These hairy structures are thought to exclude nectar thieves or act as tactile nectar guides for bees.

Tallow wood can be grown from the “purge nut” seed. Be sure to remove the flesh before planting. Grow tallow wood for its yummy fruits, for its curious flowers, for its drought tolerance, for its pollinators (bees), and for wildlife to enjoy too. Its thorny and sprawlsprawling growth habit can help to deter unwanted foot traffic.