Interesting facts

The Swedish taxonomist Carl von Linné (1707-1778) created the scientific name Malpighia in honour of Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694). This Italian physician, anatomist and physiologist was a professor of medicine in Bologna and personal physician to Pope Innocent XII (1615-1700). He became famous for his microscopic investigations into the anatomy and physiology of plants. The specific epithet punicifolia comes from the Latin puniceus = red-purple, and folius = leaved.
As already mentioned, the flowers of the acerola tree bear oil glands. The interaction between the flowers and the pollinating bees is remarkable. Usually these are bees belonging to the genera Centris and Epicharis, which are solitary, i.e. do not form colonies, and only visit oil-producing flowers. They are also probably attracted by another special feature of the acerola flower. Its five petals only appear perfectly symmetrical at first sight. On closer inspection, it is noticeable that one of the petals protrudes upwards slightly, feels somewhat firmer and is the first to lose its colour on wilting. The attracted bee lands on just this petal and uses it as a platform to look for the oil glands with its front legs. In doing so it pollinates the flower with pollen from the flower it has visited previously, which adheres to its underbelly. The oil glands secrete a fatty oil, consisting of mono and diglycerides plus a few free fatty acids, that collects as a thin-skinned bubble on the surface of the gland. The bee scrapes off the oil with special combs located on its front legs, stores it for transportation together with pollen in flat, blunt bristles on its back legs and takes it back to the nest to feed its larvae with the mixture.