Family: Sapindaceae
Blighia sapida, commonly known as akee, is a tropical fruit tree native to West Africa and widely cultivated in the Caribbean, especially Jamaica, where it is an important cultural and culinary staple. It grows as an evergreen tree with glossy green leaves and produces distinctive red pods that split open to reveal cream-colored arils and shiny black seeds. The edible arils are used in a variety of cooked dishes, most famously Jamaica’s national dish, ackee and saltfish. Akee is also planted as a shade tree and ornamental for its attractive foliage and colorful pods.
While akee is valued as a food crop in parts of the tropics, it must be handled with care. Unripe akee fruits contain high levels of hypoglycin toxins, which can cause severe illness if eaten before the pods naturally split open. Beyond this food-safety concern, akee is not known to be invasive in Hawaiʻi and is not widely cultivated. At present, it poses low ecological risk, but as with any non-native fruit tree, plantings should be monitored to ensure it does not naturalize or spread into surrounding natural areas.
High Risk Traits:
- Thrives in tropical climates
- Naturalized through the Caribbean and Central America from Brazil to Florida
- Unripe and overripe fruit and seeds are highly toxic
- Seedlings tolerant of deep shade
- Tolerates many soil types
- Can reach maturity as early as 3 years
- Seeds dispersed by people, large birds and frugivorous mammals
- Trees often sprout vigorously from stumps
Low Risk Traits:
- Despite naturalization, no negative impacts to agriculture or the natural environment have been documented in introduced range
- Unarmed (no spines, thorns or burrs)
- Leaves palatable to grazing animals
- Landscaping and ornamental value
- Fruit edible at the ripe stage (toxic otherwise)
- Will not spread vegetatively
- Large fruit and seeds unlikely to be inadvertently dispersed
- Seeds will not form a persistent seed bank (and do not store well)
