Global overview of underutilized tropical and subtropical fruits

Thousands of tropical and subtropical fruits grown in the world, of which about only 50 are well known and only around 10 may be considered as commercially important. Although tropical and subtropical fruits originated in almost all continents, including the Pacific islands, most are originally from the tropical and subtropical lands of America and Asia. Only two commercially important fruits originated in Oceania, the macadamia (in Queensland, Australia) and the coconut (in the Pacific), although the latter is considered pantropical in origin, while only the date palm is native to Africa, and none to Europe. Tropical and subtropical fruits can be found in most of the botanical families of the Vegetable Kingdom. Tropical and subtropical fruits can be divided into three main categories: major, minor and wild. Obviously underutilized fruit species can only be found in the last two. An overview of them is provided in this paper.