Footnote to Penny Piece

THE EDITOR: I read with interest the short piece by Ms Julia Starr on the Penny Piece and would like to add a footnote. It is an interesting and elegant understory tree which seemed to prefer the forests of the Northern Range. It was well known in our great-, and grand-parents’ day when it was sold in the markets and cultivated as a fruit tree in the gardens of Port-of-Spain. (cf Marshall, Silviculture of the trees of Trinidad and Tobago, 1932). It is a member of the Sapotaceae family along with kaimet, balata, sapodilla and acoma, to name a few better known relatives. There are two handsome specimens growing by the St Christopher Taxi booth on the Queen’s Park Savannah opposite bpTT, and annually carpet the ground with fruit. Some of the older folks still collect them. The tree was studied some years ago in Chaguaramas by a group from the Imperial College in London.

The name “penny piece” is perhaps a corruption of the French name by which it was known, Pain d’Epice. An Old Acoma still stands to shade the sidewalk beside the entrance to the tennis courts on the Princes’ Ground, a little north of the Museum. I hope this will give Ms Starr an opportunity to connect with a small relic of old Port-of-Spain.

DETTA VAN AARDT-BUCH
Petit Valley