Mystery Berries

Don't know, but are birds eating them? If so, give them a try!

The flower is definitely a passion flower. There are many different passion fruit vines. Only one produces the lilikoi we know. I had non fruiting passion vine when I lived in San Francisco. They even liked the cool foggy weather. The flowers are amazing and I'd float them in a bowl of water for parties, but they invariably closed up at night, so they only worked for daytime parties.

I personally don't know what it is, but there is an option on the Bishop Museum website to "Ask a Scientist." You post a picture and then someone hopefully gets back to you. I've only just recently heard about it, but if you wanna give it a shot, here's the link:

http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/askascientist/

Oh, and since I just found this blog I've been systematically reading your past entries. I'm hooked! Since I'm on the mainland, I really appreciate your thoughtful insight (and awesome pictures) of local food. Although it makes me miss home, it somehow manages to cure some homesickness at the same time. Keep up the good work!

never saw that before, good idea to "ask a scientist"

Surinam Cherry?

http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/surinam_cherry_pictures.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surinam_Cherry

I agree on the passion flower suggestion but that fruit is a stumper. Please, I hope it's not an evolution thing in the process. Makes me wonder what's in the soil!

Definitely not surinam cherry. I have those in my yard.

These look like purple passion fruit to me.

Oh, I forgot to say that one thing that totally rules out surinam cherry is that surinam cherries have one large, tan seed. and they are small (1 inch).

Tikiupundit, I've heard the "birds eat them" advice before but have always been reluctant to gamble my health on a rule of thumb. Is that really a reliable test?

Scott, the flower sure looks similar to lilikoi, but the fruit is so different than anything I've seen that that confused me.

Mallory, I'd never heard of the Ask a Scientist option. What a great service! I've submitted the images to them and will wait to hear what they say. Thanks for the tip.

Kat, I'm hopeful they'll have an answer. My plant knowledge is pathetic.

"?", I took a look at the Surinam cherry links. The fruit skin looks exactly like that, but I think the flesh is different.

Rowena, these were growing alongside a vacant lot. Who knows what crazy things have been dumped into the soil... maybe I should have checked to see if it glows in the dark ;-)

Shauna, these might be purple passionfruit. I googled around for images of those and the one thing that is different is that passionfruit have a golfball shape. These mystery berries are closer to a heart shape (hard to see in my photos) with multiple sections tapering to a rounded tip. You're right about the pit though--definitely not a single, large seed inside.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I'll make sure to update once I hear back from Bishop.