More information needed

Can’t seem to upload photos - I’ll try a new post w/ same title but just pics.

In the meantime, don't eat the pods!

If they are carob, which is quite possible as they go grow into fair sized trees, the broken pods have a chocolatey smell. I seem to recall you're a Brit, Andy, in which case a carob pod looks like a wonky broad bean made of dark brown wood.

Having no luck at all uploading pics. Even installed a new browser - tried 3 now!

yep, the pod is definitely as you describe @floral, but no chocolate smell. Leaves are smooth margin, oval with no point (in fact slightly indented at the tip), about 1.5 “ long, growing in opposed pairs from slightly pinky twigs. Nice fresh green, a bit shiny.

Can’t recall if you use the pod, the bean, or both.

Cheers,

Andy.

Oh yes, and the pods are in clusters of about 6 or so maybe 6” long.

just posted my verdict on Houzz vs Gardenweb, and lo and behold, my pic has actually uploaded!!!

That’s carob.

Thanks.

Spain, what a place! Figs, almonds, lemons, mulberries, walnuts, pomegranates, loquats, quinces, mangoes, and now carob(s) - and I’m sure there’s plenty I’ve not found yet.

Back to UK tomorrow. Sigh.

Still, a few less mosquitoes!

Cheers,

Andy.

Mangoes?? Where did you see those growing? They’re quite a new crop there I believe.

On a hilltop near the Roman aqueduct at Almuñécar. A small orchard of them.

Near the Carob in fact.

The expansion of mango cultivation on the mainland countries of the European Union, which began in the 1980s, is taking place mainly in the south-eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. Despite the competition against the avocado and the cherimoya for land, and the strong pressure to transform agricultural land into tourist facilities, mango growing has steadily spread, today covering almost 1,000 ha in the area, with a total production of about 10,000 t, both for export and domestic markets. Mango orchards are located on gentle or levelled-out slopes, or on wide terraces, mainly on the coastal lands of Malaga province, but are also grown on steep slopes, either non-terraced or with tall, narrow terraces, particularly on the coast of Granada province

https://www.ishs.org/ishs-article/820_2

I’ve seen the avocados and cherimoyas but it’s been a few years since I was in that area and I didn’t recollect the mangoes. The tropical fruits require a lot of water to crop. I don’t know how sustainable they will prove in the long run.

...and how could I have missed out grapes!

Or prickly pears?

I actually didn’t see any prickly pears growing this time apart from loads of wild patches that were black/grey and looking like they’d melted and then been dried off with a flame thrower, but I expect I wasn’t in the right region.

Apparently there is a problem for prickly pears in Andalusia - Dactylopius Opuntiae, which is a relative of the Cochineal beetle and can devastate crops.

https://murciatoday.com/the-cochinilla-del-carmin-devastates-prickly-pears_120602-a.html#top

I realise this is quite an old post, so maybe we’ve reached the endgame.

☹️