Digital Garden

Nephelium lappaceum L.

റംബുട്ടാൻ

Family : SAPINDACEAE

Synonym : Dimocarpus crinitus Lour.

Common Names : Rambutan

Flowering Period : March – July

Distribution : Native of Malaysia and China

Habitat : Cultivated

Uses : Fruits edible. The green fruit is said to be astringent, stomachic, and anthelmintic. It is used in the treatment of various diseases, especially fevers and diarrhoea. The leaves are used in poultices for headaches. The shell of the fruit contains tannins and is used as an astringent. In Malaysia, the roots are used in a decoction for treating fever. The bark is used as an astringent for tongue diseases. The young shoots are used to produce a green colour on silk that is first dyed yellow with turmeric.

Key Characters :

Trees upto 4-7 m high and usually with a spreading habit. Leaves alternate, paripinnate, leaflets ovate to obovate. Inflorescence pseudo-terminal to usually terminal. Flower either male or hermaphrodite, actinomorphic, whitish, yellowish or greenish; sepals 4-5. Petals usually absent. Stamens 4-5; anther dehiscing latero-introrse. Pistil 2, densely; ovary warty. Fruits ellipsoid to subglobular, yellow to purplish red, hardly stalked; seed covered by a thick, juicy, white to yellow, translucent sarcotesta.