Pineapple is actually native to South America. Coconut was very widespread on tropical seacoasts nearly around the world, not just Hawaii.
I used to eat the fruit from wild cherry trees–the kind you make furniture from–when I was a lass wandering in the woods of Michigan and Indiana. They were small, a bit bitter and mostly seed, but they are edible and native.
What about boysenberries. I know that they grow wild in Oregon. Delicious big berries.
No, boysenberrys are “manmade” and named after the man who developed them. If you read the history of Knott’s Berry Farm you can find out about it.
No.
This just shows the problems of using common names. All three species are members of the Custard Apple family, Annonaceae. The true Custard Apple is Annona reticulata of the West Indies. However, the name is sometimes applied to several other fruits in the same genus, including the Cherimoya Annona cherimola, the Sweetsop A. squamosa, and the Soursop or Guanabana A. muricata. Pawpaw usually refers another species in the Custard Apple family, the North American Asimina triloba, but is sometimes used for the Papaya Carica papaya.
Let’s make this clear. The statement related to the contiguous United States.
Not the Carribean…
Not South America.
Ohh, Little America. Your OP wasn’t clear on that.
When you use the word America…you are referring to the entire new world?
aka the saskatoon berry.
Also choke cherries although it’s possible you had another synonym in that list.
Well, there is no country called America but there was a whole continent before the US came to existence called America.
[/nitpick]
Carry on.
Why are you specifically excluding Alaska and Hawaii? Aren’t they a part of “America”?
That is one meaning of the word, and one that many people outside the US might assume. Use of “America” to automatically mean only the United States is a bit provincial. Your OP was very unclear about what area you were actually talking about.
Oh give me a break.
If this thread is going to quibble over semantics it might as well be closed.
You asked a botanical question.
Plants are not big on respecting political boundries.
They pay more attention to geographic connections; New world, old world, Africa, Eurasia, Australia, the Americas, north America, south America.
Ok then (i’m listing common names only because I don’t want to spend 3 hours looking up species :)) I’ll list latin names where I remember.
Blackberry (Rubus)
Thimbleberry (Rubus)
Salmon Berry (Rubus)
Blueberry ( Vaccinum corymbosa)
Huckleberry (Vaccinum ovatum, V. parvifolia)
Oregon Grape (Mahonia)
Golden Currant (Ribes aureum)
Elderberry (Sambucus mexicana)
Strawberry (Fragaria)
Muscadine Grape (Vitis)
California Grape (Vitis californica)
California Rose (Rosa californica - the hips were made into jams or teas)
Pawpaw (Asimina triloba, tetramera)
coccoloba (Coccoloba uvifera)
Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana)
Various wild cherries (Prunus)
Indian Plum (Oemleria cerasiformis)
Pond Apple (Annona glabra)
Serviceberry (Amelanchier)
Marlberry (Ardisia crenata)
Lemonade berry (Rhus integrifolia)
Sugar bush (Rhus ovata)
Mulberry (morus)
Madrone (Arbutus menziesii)
Chronos: Blueberry is generally Vaccinum corymbosum. Other species of Vaccinum are called blueberries, but huckleberry is Vaccinum ovatum. California’s red huckleberry is V. parvifolium. So if we’re going by genus alone, yes Blueberries and huckleberries are the same, but if we’re going by species, then no, they’re not really the same.
As to “Hawaiian” fruits, most of the fruits people think of as Hawaiian (Coconut, Mango, Pineapple) are from other lands. Coconut came with the Hawaiians, Mango and Pineapple came with other settlers. Many of Hawaii’s native flowers are pretty inconspicuous too (compared to the flamboyant tropicals we think of like Plumeria, ginger, and Pikake), such as the native orchids which are small flowered and not too showy. However, the native hibiscus are quite showy.
However, Ohelo, and Ōhelo kau lā au berries (Vaccinum reticulatum, and V. calycinum) are native - they’re two species of Vaccinum, the genus which includes Blueberries and Huckleberries.
Add
salal (Gaultheria shallon)
to Doobieous’s list. It was on the earlier list, but unaccountably fell off the second one.
Leif Erikson named the east coast of Canada “Vinland” because of the grapes he found growing there. I’m not sure if I remember this right. Some historians objected because grapes didn’t grow that far north? And suggested there was some kind of berry in Newfoundland that earned the name Vinland?
Also add to Doobieous’s list:
Dewberry (Rubus trivialis, Rubus flagellaris, Rubus hispidus, Rubus canadensis)
Passionfruit (Passiflora) (Native to both North and South America according to link.)
Prickly Pear (Opuntia)
And here’s an interesting chart showing the origins of various fruits and nuts (with pictures).