Pulasan

Last updated

Pulasan
Nephelium ramboutan-ake3.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Sapindaceae
Genus: Nephelium
Species:
N. ramboutan-ake
Binomial name
Nephelium ramboutan-ake
(Labill.) Leenh.
Synonyms
  • Litchi ramboutan-akeLabill.
  • Nephelium mutabileBlume
Fruit Nephelium ramboutan-ake1.jpg
Fruit
A trio of pulasan fruits, one of which has been opened to reveal the sweet edible flesh. Pulasan fruit2.JPG
A trio of pulasan fruits, one of which has been opened to reveal the sweet edible flesh.
Pulasan tree with ripe fruits photographed in Kerala Pulasan Tree with fruits.jpg
Pulasan tree with ripe fruits photographed in Kerala

Nephelium ramboutan-ake, the pulasan, [1] is a tropical fruit in the soapberry family Sapindaceae. [2] It is closely related to the rambutan and sometimes confused with it. Other related soapberry family fruits include lychee and longan. [2] Usually eaten fresh, it is sweeter than the rambutan and lychee, but very rare outside Southeast Asia.

Contents

Description

The name pulasan comes from the Malay word pulas (twist), related to the Tagalog pilas (rip, tear). The fruit is opened through the act of twisting the fruit with both hands, thus the name pulasan.

The pulasan tree is an ornamental. [2] It attains a height of 10–15 m and has a short trunk to 30–40 cm thick. The branchlets are brown and hairy when young. The alternate leaves, pinnate or odd-pinnate, are 17–45 cm long, have 2 to 5 pairs of opposite or nearly opposite leaflets, are oblong or elliptic-lanceolate, 6.25-17.5 cm long and up to 5 cm wide; slightly wavy, dark-green and barely glossy on the upper surface; pale, and somewhat bluish, with a few short, silky hairs on the underside. [2] Very small, greenish, petalless flowers with 4-5 hairy sepals are borne singly or in clusters on the branches of the erect, axillary or terminal, panicles clothed with fine yellowish or brownish hairs. [3]

The pulasan is ultra-tropical and thrives only in humid regions between 360 and 1,150 ft (110–350 m) of altitude. [2] In Malaysia, it is said that the tree bears best after a long, dry season.

The fruit is ovoid, 5-7.5 cm long, dark red, with its thick, leathery rind closely set with conical, blunt-tipped tubercles or thick, fleshy, straight spines, which are up to 1 cm long. [2] There may be one or two small, undeveloped fruits nestled close to the stem. Within is the glistening, white or yellowish-white flesh (aril) to 1 cm thick, more or less clinging to the thin, grayish-brown seedcoat (testa) which separates from the seed. The flavor is generally much sweeter than that of the rambutan. [2] The seed is ovoid, oblong or ellipsoid, light brown, somewhat flattened on one side, and 2 to 3.5 cm long.

While similar to rambutan, the fruit lacks the hairy spines. The flesh is sweet and juicy, and separates easily from the seed, much more easily than the rambutan. [2] In addition, unlike the seed of the rambutan, the seed of the pulasan is readily edible raw. It has a flavor somewhat like that of almonds.

Habitat and distribution

The pulasan is native to Malay Peninsula and other parts of tropical Southeast Asia. [2] Wild trees are infrequent in lowland forests around Perak, Malaysia but abundant in the Philippines at low elevations from Luzon to Mindanao. The tree has long been cultivated in the Malay Peninsula and Thailand; is rarely domesticated in the Philippines. Ochse reported that there were extensive plantings in Java only around Bogor and the villages along the railway between Bogor and the capital Jakarta. [4]

The tree was planted at the Trujillo Plant Propagation Station in Puerto Rico in 1926 and young trees from Java were sent to the Lancetilla Experimental Garden, Tela, Honduras, in 1927. The latter were said in 1945 to be doing well at Tela and fruiting moderately. The pulasan is little known elsewhere in the New World except in Costa Rica where it is occasionally grown and the fruits sometimes appear on the market.

Ecology

Like its relatives, pulasan can be propagated by seed and grafting methods. [5] Grafting is a common practice among horticulturalists that often is a proactive method of preventing disease, by using healthy rootstocks. Though starting by seed can be successful, most producers will not use this method of propagation due to variation in gender, which causes chance in having an actual fruiting tree. [2]

Of the pulasan flower parts, the anther cannot open on its own; this means that the plant cannot pollinate itself. [6] Certain trees will have hermaphrodite flowers, and others will have staminate flowers. [6] Generally this means hermaphrodites will take on female roles as the staminates take male, in the pollination process. [6]

Pulasan skin is unique for its color; it offers a natural dye, one that has recently been the specimen of studies dealing with electrical conductivity and its potential in renewable energy (see OSC's). [7] [8] Unnatural dyes, such as methylene blue, are being studied today particularly due to potential environmental detriment when released into wastewater. [9] In one study, pulasan peel was used among other treatments as a potential sorbent of the methylene blue. [9]

Young pulasan in Malaysia PulasanMuda.JPG
Young pulasan in Malaysia

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rambutan</span> Southeast Asian fruit

Rambutan is a medium-sized tropical tree in the family Sapindaceae. The name also refers to the edible fruit produced by this tree. The rambutan is native to Southeast Asia. It is closely related to several other edible tropical fruits, including the lychee, longan, pulasan, and quenepa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Longan</span> Species of tropical fruit-bearing tree

Dimocarpus longan, commonly known as the longan and dragon's eye, is a tropical tree species that produces edible fruit. It is one of the better-known tropical members of the soapberry family Sapindaceae, to which the lychee and rambutan also belong. The fruit of the longan is similar to that of the lychee, but less aromatic in taste. It is native to tropical Asia and China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lychee</span> Species of plant

Lychee is a monotypic taxon and the sole member in the genus Litchi in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fruit tree</span> Tree which bears fruit

A fruit tree is a tree which bears fruit that is consumed or used by animals and humans — all trees that are flowering plants produce fruit, which are the ripened ovaries of flowers containing one or more seeds. In horticultural usage, the term "fruit tree" is limited to those that provide fruit for human food. Types of fruits are described and defined elsewhere, but would include "fruit" in a culinary sense, as well as some nut-bearing trees, such as walnuts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fruit tree pollination</span>

Pollination of fruit trees is required to produce seeds with surrounding fruit. It is the process of moving pollen from the anther to the stigma, either in the same flower or in another flower. Some tree species, including many fruit trees, do not produce fruit from self-pollination, so pollinizer trees are planted in orchards.

<i>Melicoccus bijugatus</i> Species of plant

Melicoccus bijugatus is a fruit-bearing tree in the soapberry family Sapindaceae, native or naturalized across the New World tropics including South and Central America, and parts of the Caribbean. Its stone-bearing fruits, commonly called quenepa or guinep, are edible. These fruits have various other names such as Bajan ackee, Spanish lime or mamoncillo, among numerous other common names.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sapindaceae</span> Family of flowering plants

The Sapindaceae are a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales known as the soapberry family. It contains 138 genera and 1,858 accepted species. Examples include horse chestnut, maples, ackee and lychee.

<i>Annona squamosa</i> Species of tree

Annona squamosa is a small, well-branched tree or shrub from the family Annonaceae that bears edible fruits called sugar apples or sweetsops. It tolerates a tropical lowland climate better than its relatives Annona reticulata and Annona cherimola helping make it the most widely cultivated of these species. Annona squamosa is a small, semi-(or late) deciduous, much-branched shrub or small tree 3 to 8 metres tall similar to soursop. It is a native of tropical climate in the Americas and West Indies, and Spanish traders aboard the Manila galleons docking in the Philippines brought it to Asia.

<i>Ziziphus mauritiana</i> Species of plant

Ziziphus mauritiana, also known as Indian jujube, Indian plum, Chinese date, Chinese apple, ber and dunks is a tropical fruit tree species belonging to the family Rhamnaceae. It is often confused with the closely related Chinese jujube, but whereas Z. jujuba prefers temperate climates, Z. mauritiana is tropical to subtropical.

<i>Artocarpus odoratissimus</i> Species of plant in the family Moraceae

Artocarpus odoratissimus is a species of flowering plant in the Moraceae family. It is a commonly called marang, madang, timadang, terap, tarap, kiran, green pedalai, or johey oak. It is native to Borneo, Palawan, and Mindanao Island, and is closely related to the jackfruit, cempedak, and breadfruit trees which all belong to the same genus, Artocarpus.

<i>Diospyros nigra</i> Species of tree

Diospyros nigra, the black sapote, is a species of persimmon. Common names include chocolate pudding fruit, black soapapple and zapote prieto. The tropical fruit tree is native to Mexico, Central America, and Colombia. The common name sapote refers to any soft, edible fruit. Black sapote is not related to white sapote nor mamey sapote. The genus Diospyros has numerous other fruit bearing tree species in addition to the persimmons and black sapote.

<i>Nephelium hypoleucum</i> Species of tree

Nephelium hypoleucum, the korlan, is a tree in the family Sapindaceae. It is in the same genus as the rambutan and also closely related to several other tropical fruits including the lychee, longan, and guinep.

<i>Sapindus saponaria</i> Species of tree

Sapindus saponaria is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree native to the Americas. Common names include wingleaf soapberry, western soapberry, jaboncillo, sulluku and manele and a'e (Hawaiian). Its genus name, "Sapindus", comes from the Latin, meaning Indian soap, and its specific epithet means "soapy."

<i>Alectryon tomentosus</i> Species of tree

Alectryon tomentosus, commonly known as the hairy birds eye, red jacket or woolly rambutan, is a rainforest tree of the family Sapindaceae found in eastern Australia. The specific epithet tomentosus refers to the hairy leaves and hairy young shoots.

<i>Dipterocarpus bourdillonii</i> Species of tree

Dipterocarpus bourdillonii is a species of large tree in the family Dipterocarpaceae endemic to the Western Ghats principally in the state of Kerala in India. It is a Critically Endangered species according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is a characteristic tree of the low-elevation tropical wet evergreen rainforests in the Western Ghats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lancetilla Botanical Garden</span> Garden

Lancetilla Botanical Garden is a botanical garden and significant tourist attraction located on the coast of the Caribbean Sea, in the north of the Republic of Honduras, about 7 km southeast of the city of Tela.

Nephelium cuspidatum, also known as rambutan forest in Malay and sibau fruit in Iban, is a species of flowering plant, a tropical forest fruit-tree in the rambutan family, that is native to Southeast Asia.

Nephelium maingayi, also known as serait in Malay, mujau in Iban, and buah sungkit in Sabah and Brunei, is a species of flowering plant, a tropical forest fruit-tree in the rambutan family, that is native to Southeast Asia.

Nephelium papillatum is a species of flowering plant, a tropical forest fruit-tree in the rambutan family, that is endemic to Borneo.

<i>Diploglottis harpullioides</i> Species of plant in the family Sapindaceae

Diploglottis harpullioides, commonly known as Babinda tamarind, is a rainforest tree in the lychee and maple family Sapindaceae which is found only in northeast Queensland, Australia.

References

  1. "Nephelium ramboutan-ake". Germplasm Resources Information Network . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Julia F Morton (1987). Pulasan; In: Fruits of Warm Climates. NewCROP, the New Crop Resource Online Program, Center for New Crops & Plant Products, Purdue University. pp. 265–266. ISBN   0-9610184-1-0 . Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  3. T. K., Kim (February 15, 2013). "Fruits". Edible Medicinal and Non-Medicinal Plants. 9: 75–78 via Google Books.
  4. "Nephelium ramboutan-ake - Useful Tropical Plants". tropical.theferns.info. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
  5. Love, K. Tropical Fruit Tree Propagation Guide. CTAHR Fruit, Nut, and Beverage Crops, R. Paull, A. Cho, & A. Kawabata, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources University of Hawaii at Manoa, July 2017, https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/F_N-49.pdf
  6. 1 2 3 Djuita, Nina Ratna; Hartana, Alex; Chikmawati, Tatik; Dorly, D. (2016-07-25). "Pulasan [(Nephelium ramboutan-ake (Labill.) Leenh.] fruit trees: variations in flower morphology, and associated differences in pollination type". International Journal of Plant Biology. 7 (1): 6149. doi: 10.4081/pb.2016.6149 . ISSN   2037-0164.
  7. "Poly (3-Dodecylthiophene)/Natural Dye Bulk Heterojunction Organic Solar Cell: An Electrical Conductivity, and Hall Effect Study (PDF Download Available)". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-11-08.
  8. "LAILY umtas MSP14 (PDF Download Available)". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-11-08.
  9. 1 2 Ong, Siew Teng; Keng, Pei Sin; Ooi, Seok Theng; Hung, Yung Tse; and Lee, Siew Ling, "Utilization of Fruits Peel as A Sorbent for Removal of Methylene Blue" (2012). Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications. 101.http://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/encee_facpub/101