North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Joe Hecksel" <jhecksel@voyager.net>]

Hi all:

The question was asked, "Is there an efficient way to explore for fruit 
in a place that is new to you....and you do not speak the language.?"

The short answer is, "Keep your eyes, ears and nose open every place 
you go."

The long answers follow:

The Latin Squares method.  Visit the extremes.

One school of thought is to go to the epicenter of the gene pool.  This 
method is especially useful when dealing with species that are of 
economic interest.  The rational is that mutations and chance hybrids 
(injections of genes) will occur randomly throughout the species 
range.  *IF* the mutation is beneficial, the strain with the gene will 
diffuse outward from the point of origin, something like ripples on a 
still pond after chucking a rock into it.  Going with the pond analogy, 
mutations happen on an ongoing basis.  The most efficient place to pull 
samples is the center of the pond.  That is where all the ripples come 
together.  A point worth considering is that many genes are useless in 
isolation but powerful when teamed with another gene.  The epicenter is 
where genes are most likely to "accessorize" with other genes and 
breeders can see the possibilities.

Another school of thought is to look for disjunct, or isolated, 
communities.  These are communities of plants or animals that have 
followed an independent evolutionary trajectory.  The trouble with 
large contiguous blocks of organisms is that regression-to-the-mean 
tends to dilute resessive genes into extinction unless there is a huge 
(like 4X) advantage to the mutation.  The classic example of isolated 
communities are Darwin's finches in the Galapagos Islands.  

Isolated communities can be found on islands, mountain tops, oasis, 
hanging valleys.  Sometimes the isolation is in time...a warm micro-
climate will cause the inhabitants to reproduce before the surrounding 
areas have viable pollen.  Other places/methods too, I am sure.

There are differences in how robust the barrier must be to create 
isolation.  Some species are harder to isolate than others. Compare the 
riverbank grape and the pawpaw. The riverbank grape is wind pollinated, 
grows in many different habitats, and the berry/seed package is highly 
attractive to mourning doves, starlings, ducks and other birds that are 
capable of quickly 100 miles.  The pawpaw is insect pollinated (blow 
flies), is fussy about where it wants to grow, and the fruit/seeds are 
too large for anything smaller than a giant sloth to easily gulp down 
whole and pass with ease.  Even if giant sloths were common, it is 
likely they would pass the seeds within 200 yards of where they were 
consumed.

So it is easy to find "isolated" stands of pawpaws.  It is rarer to 
find isolated stands of riverbank grapes.  If I had a yen to explore 
for plants like grapes, I would look at islands that are upwind of the 
mainland and are 5 or more miles offshore, or I would follow rivers 
upstream/upwind until the plant community was scraggly and stretched 
out.

The people factor:
Young people and old people are in touch with fruit exploration.  So 
are marginalized middle age people who are mostly outside the cash 
economy.

Finally, unlike shopping, fruit explore when you are hungry.  Hunger 
sharpens the senses, particullarly smell.  You will find some dandy 
fruit via smell if you attend to it. 

-- 
Joe Hecksel
Personal Webpage http://my.voyager.net/~jhecksel