Fruit from another world? (Pics)

If you take a step back, many seemingly common natural things start to look transplanted and/or manufactured...
Watermelons for instance. I mean really. It's like a field of bodysnatcher cocoons or something. And what a convenient carrying case for water - water with texture similar to tender meat.
Imagine if we didn't bake and process sugar - a banana would be akin to birthday cake. Look at it's construction. It's seems made to be convenient and tidy to eat. ...Don't wanna get that sticky stuff all over your fingers! And the texture and flavor... Birthday cake I say!
I thought plants were trying to defend themselves from being consumed? (yes I know, the seeds come out in your poop and get distributed) But still...

lastly, just look at us. yikes!

Loads of life on earth looks alien by our normal expectations, i think its possible all life could have come from space starting as single celled organisms like some believe but thats not like they later came here fully formed somehow, out of all life if i had to pick whats most plausible as having come from space it would have to be fungi, i would say that anyway but its also now been found it can use radiation as an energy source, which helps.

I can especially see how a lot of sea life can be considered alien, some of that stuff really is bizarre!

Thanks for the answers on taste.

I'm a home gardener and you can find seeds for most of these plants at exotic seed websites.

We have a fairly long hot stretch of summer here in N/W Arizona.
Looks like, if properly shaded, most of these tropica fruits could make it.

Next year, maybe, still getting the soil squared away and learning how to grow veggies and melons in Arizona desert soil.

probably alrleady said in ats but i thought it was worth a mention in here as it is quite a fruity topic!

The Miracle Fruit, makes the bitter tastes sweet! Literally that is.

en.wikipedia.org...

[edit on 11-8-2008 by Boostah]

I've had Dragon fruit before, and it was all right. Kinda like a fairly bland but tangy coconut, but it may have just been the one I had.
As for animals like a girraffe being non terrestial.... since we have the fossilized remains of their ancestors, makes it kind of unlikely.
The weirdest plaants, to me, are the carnivourus plants, l;ike the venus flytrapper.

they are so beautiful and strange. Kind of like this website...

reply to post by NightVision


I must admit, I do not think I have ever seen fruit that looks like that in my life!!! They do look kinda nice, in a strange artistic sort of way. However, I think I would eat it and be scared of the consequences

[edit on 12-8-2008 by Omniscient1]

Great photos.

I have the same feelings about my mother-in-law. I know she was born here, but I just can't believe it.

Number 3 is actually known as "rambutan", the other two have many names. They are very terrestrial, al found in South East Asia. They grow in South Thailand and northern Malaysia......and they sell for a fortune in Japan

Duran - the inside texture just looks foul. Of course, it doesn't keep my wife (who is from malaysia) from eating it.

An interesting side note: It is believed by paleobotanists that the fruits with large spikes (such as the duran) evolved the spikes as defense mechanisms against large herbivores.

Dragon fruit is delicious.

It's my favourite fruit.

What I find interesting is that some of the pictures provided by Billy Meier (even though they are highly questionable [which often make for the best discussions]), show a plant that is supposedly evolving from plant energies to insectoid life that is claimed to be from Earth's past. Amazing regardless of the implications and believability of the claims and evidence.

I apologize for not being able to provide the link to the picture, frankly I just can't find it. Richard C. Hoagland gave his perspective on these pictures, and I would be appreciative if people didn't start posting on how horrible or frauds these people are, but rather check out Hoagland's documentary on those pictures found on YouTube. Here is one link regarding what I am talking about, and in the portion where the pictures are shown, they are way too blurry to make heads or tails of it completely, but it is fitting for this thread on "alien plants". Ooooh, spooky!

www.youtube.com...

Originally posted by swinggal
Lot's of fruits native to Asia look a bit odd.

And it's not just their plantlife that is so radically different from the rest of the world, but even the physiology of the people and their cultural roots. I've often wondered if aliens seeded the Asian continent, or if they evolved from a different type of ape or something.

Whoa! Neat!

I hope they're edible 'cause they look goooooood!!

*No.1 Fruit salad fan.*

Dragonfruit is grown in very dry climates although where i come from (Phan Thiet, Vietnam) there are torrential rains in the fall season. Dragonfruit is a very low maintenance type of fruits to plant. That's why many Vietnamese farmers around Phan Thiet likes to harvest them.

The tree resembles a cactus with long spiky branches. When it is fully grown it resembles Cousin It' hair in the Addams Family. In order for the plant to bear fruit, the farmers string small lights around it during the night to cause it to bloom flowers and then fruits. Somehow having small incandescent bulbs around it all night tricked it into thinking that it sunshine all the time and speed up its bloom cycle or something.

As one travels during the night thru the countryside of Phan Thiet, Vietnam one would see many farms all lit up like Christmas season, kinda nostalgic. I've been up in the highlands of Dalat, Vietnam and have seen and eaten dragonfruit that are pink/reddish inside as well. Both tasted the same, kinda sour/sweet with heavy fibers membranes. I can only tolerated 2-3 times and that's about it.

reply to post by Omniscient1


That video was utter comedey. Thank you for posting!

Here's a few more alien fruits....

(Top)
Mamey, also called the Mamey Sapote has bark like brown rough skin and is orange inside. It is soft, smooth, thick, and creamy. Very popular with Cuban-Americans, it's like a sweet potato and avocado in texture. It has a hint of almond to it and is slightly sweet. It is quite dense and therefore quite filling. It is almost like a sweet potato pie with a dash of almond extract. There is usually one seed and it is smooth, shiny and dark.

(Center)

Jackfruit is the largest fruit on the planet reaching up to 100 pounds! It is in the same family as the breadfruit and the fig.

How To Tell if it's Ripe: It has a prickly exterior that is green or greenish yellow once ripe. When ripening it can have a strong smell, some describe it as rotten onions so a good whiff will tell you when it's ripe, but you might have to get very close to smell it and those prickles are sharp so be careful! Once cut open, that bad smell goes away and a sweet tropical fragrance of pineapples, bananas and "juicy-fruit" emanates from the golden to orange colored fruit.

How to Use It: Practically all parts of the Jackfruit can be eaten! The pulp of the Jackfruit can be eaten raw as a fruit once ripe or cooked as a vegetable when unripe. Once cut, a sticky latex substance is present that can stain your clothes and stick to everything so wear latex gloves and an apron.

(Bottom)
Black Sapote is not a Sapote at all. It is also called Chocolate Pudding Fruit or Black Persimmon and is indeed part of the persimmon family. It has green skin like the white sapote, but the skin is tougher than the white Sapote. Inside it is a dark brown color moist consistency. It tastes like a exotic chocolate and is slightly sweet with a nutty undertone and a little flavor of the tropics.

That video is great, haha


Have any of you ever had a "Miracle Fruit" ? After eating one, it makes anything bad taste delicious and sweet, takes the sour out of lemons and such etc. etc.


".. after eating [miracle fruit] stout beers taste like chocolate milkshakes, grapefruits taste like pixie sticks, cheeses taste like frosting, it will make even the crappiest tequila taste like lemonade (and strangely enough, it will make all wine taste like Manischewitz)."

en.wikipedia.org...

[edit on 12-8-2008 by GrimTroll]

I have Custard Apple tree in my backyard and I reckon they are weird looking fruit but taste wholly divine

[edit on 13-8-2008 by easynow]