I spied a rather healthy looking, robust, even voluptuous shrub or small tree that was just buzzing with activity…literally down the road from our beach house. A closer inspection 
yielded a bee’s buzz view of the Bankoro or Noni tree (Morinda citrifolia), whose fruit and juice was one of those highly touted miracle juices that cured several ailments just a few years back. The tree was filled with huge bees and hundreds of wasps, apparently sucking on the fruit which were in various stages of development…or could they only have been interested in the flowers. This tree bears fruit all year long and in these photos here you can see the flowers, the green fruit and the creamy to whitish ripe fruits…
A native to Southeast Asia, Wikipedia has a more comprehensive entry on this plant, which is also referred to as Morinda or Indian Mulberry. Apparently, it thrives near the 
sea and in salty environments, hence its abundance on the Batangas shoreline, and all around the Philippine archipelago. The plant itself is really an attractive verdant green, and it seemed to be incredibly happy since the rains have arrived on a more regular basis… The fruit, when ripe is incredibly smelly (it has been described as smelling like rotten cheese) and perhaps that is what attracts the bees… I have never tasted it but apparently some folks like to eat the fruit with some salt. Believed to be an antibacterial, antifungal and antiparasitic… I should have tried using some of it on the worm-infested kalumpit I had that same weekend…
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Noni and mangosteen healing juices have their own followers up until this time allegedly for their miracle prowess to combat diabetes to cancer. I assume it’s all in one own’s faith and belief which I totally respect. Noni is still around marketed in a traditional Tupperware set up. It’s more like a pyramid – whoever recruited you will make money out of your sales! This is the first time I have seen the picture of the tree and its miracle and odd looking fruits. Learn something new every day from your site.
I think it is also called apatot. Used to be sold in Quiapo at the height of the Noni craze a few years ago.
so that’s what it’s called. there’s a small tree beside our house and i always wondered what that tree was–because of the pine-cone/weird guyabano/atis-y looking fruit and the flowers that sprout out of it. hehe, i remember that noni juice when it was so popular. a cure-all tonic… now there’s another kind of juice that’s popular for its health benefits, i just can’t remember what it is right now.
Hi, would you know if there is a plantation for this that I can visit? Thank you
I remember seeing this fruit and igot in Cantanduanes when i was a kid. but till now i havent tasted morinda and igot. when i come back to bicol i’l hunt these fruits! ^_^