Fruits from Abroad
None of these plants are native to Nepal. Most came from the Americas after ships began crossing the oceans about 500 years ago, and today papaya, pineapple, chilies, and pumpkins are everyday food here.
Papaya
मेवा
Carica papaya
A papaya grows fast, with a soft, hollow stem and hardly any wood. The white sap of its unripe fruit contains papain, which breaks down meat and is used as a tenderizer.
Passion Fruit
लहरे आँप
Passiflora edulis
A vine that climbs with tendrils and has one of the most complicated flowers in the garden. Spanish missionaries named it after the story of the Passion, seeing its parts as symbols.
Pecan
Carya illinoinensis
A tall relative of the walnut from the river valleys of the United States and Mexico. Squirrels bury pecans to eat later and forget some, which plants new trees.
Pepino Melon
Solanum muricatum
Despite the name, it isn’t a melon: it’s a relative of tomatoes and potatoes from the Andes, with juicy fruit that tastes like melon and cucumber together.
Pineapple
भुइँकटहर
Ananas comosus
A pineapple is not one fruit but a hundred or more small fruits fused together around the stem. Plant its leafy top and it can grow into a new plant.
Fruiting now
Sapota (Chiku)
Manilkara zapota
Its sweet brown fruit tastes of malt and brown sugar. The tree’s milky sap, chicle, was the original base of chewing gum.
Strawberry Guava
स्ट्रबेरी अम्बा
Psidium cattleyanum
A small cousin of the guava, with red, marble-sized fruits that taste of strawberry and guava together.
Tamarillo (Rukh Tamatar)
रुख टमाटर
Solanum betaceum
A tomato relative that grows into a small tree, with tangy, egg-shaped fruits. In Nepal it is called rukh tamatar, the tree tomato, and made into achar.
Pumpkin
फर्सी
Cucurbita moschata
Pumpkin vines have separate male and female flowers, and bees must carry pollen between them before a pumpkin can grow. People in the Americas were growing squash 10,000 years ago.
Tabasco Chili
खुर्सानी
Capsicum frutescens
Every chili in the world comes from the Americas; none grew in Asia before the 1500s. This one’s small, upright peppers are the ones in Tabasco sauce.
More in Food and Medicine
The garden is alive and changes through the year. Some plants flower, fruit, or rest only in certain seasons, so what you see depends on when you visit.
See them for yourself
Every plant here grows on our campus in Bhaktapur. Walk the garden on your visit.
Book a Visit