I came across this specie??? From the ground it looked like jojoba, I got excited as I have never seen real jojoba fruit before. So I got my husband to pick me some of the fruit. ...3 days later, the fruit / pod opened up into a sort of heavy petal flower. It looks alien!
What the h3ll is this, please???

Thanks

Possibly Illicium verum, star anise or a relative.

http://www.kew.org/science-con...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

These pods are the size of a kiwi. The tree is not a shrub as the star anise, it's more of a woody tree well over 50 feet tall with massive branches. The leaves are different too than the elliptic slender shape of the star anise. The are obovated and shiny. A real dark forest Green. Thanks for your answer though, I appreciate your help.

Hi Ssissina!

I'm not sure what this is but the fruit inside those funky pods looks like Carambola aka starfruit. The tree of starfruit is also a woody plant similar to what you described. Perhaps they are related!

-vee

looks like a mangosteen to me

Well, I know for sure it's neither star fruit, nor anise, nor mangosteen. @ssissina...they are from your Caribbean island. Do tell, please.

Yes Rainbow, you are correct. I'm from the Caribbean therefore I am intimately familiar with star fruit, anise and mangosteen. It's definitely none of those. However, now I'm in guadeloupe, not my native island. I see plants here I have never seen before. This tree's flower looked like the jojoba fruit initially, but then it opened up into a flower. upon examining the flower on the 4 day, it seems like the transformation is not complete. The inner parts are in process of opening, the thick petals are releasing a glue. I will click another picture.

Hi again! I think I should visit & see this in person... but... I still wouldn't know what it is... :+)

Hello Purpleinopp
I intend to upload more pictures as the changes progress. The actual tree however is about 40 miles from my home, so I can't post a pic of the tree right at this moment.

Tiffany, I will go along to keep you company.

Seems like I'll be making some new friends.

I wonder if this could be a species of Clusia or from that family Clusiaceae?


http://www.theplantlist.org/br...

Seems like you are getting warm Moonhowl. The leaves are the same of the clusia, the pod to is kind of similar. I've put it in the sun to see what's going to happen next.

Now that the flower is making 'juice' is there any sort of scent to it, Ssissina?

That's a really interesting thing. Any chance you'll be visiting the location of the tree again? If so, maybe those flowers will develop into a fruit or something else . . . it seems that what you initially brought home were flower buds? The mystery may be solved by either seeing the leaves of the tree, or whatever develops after the flower.

Hello Dyzz! There is a smell. It's not a potent fragrance, it's more starchy than than fruity. And I am not going to taste it! Lol. Lol....haaaaaaahaaaaaaa. I will go back to the tree in the next 2 to 3 days.

ssissina, before I forget my manners, to ATP.

I do not think that is a bloom. It looks like very ripe fruit, as in your last picture you can see the tiny seeds lining the center.

The glue looks to be possibly sugary/sticky juice from the fruit

Hi moon howl, what you refer to as seeds does not actually look like seeds. One sec, I'm going to disect it.

When I use zoom to give a close look at the center, it appears to my eye to be three center "lobes", each with a double row of immature seeds. Or a more alien description...three maws with teeth

Hello Moonowl! You are a winner! What you referred to as seeds, were rock solid. Therefore they are in actuality seeds. There was no big surprise after disecting this fruit. I removed the seeds, then cut the interior open, there was nothing else inside.