| Willughbeia edulis | |
|---|---|
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| Willughbeia edulis, known as Kouy fruit, for sale in Cambodia | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Gentianales |
| Family: | Apocynaceae |
| Genus: | Willughbeia |
| Species: | W. edulis |
| Binomial name | |
| Willughbeia edulis | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
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Willughbeia edulis [2] or rubber vine fruit is a vine species bearing tropical fruit in the family Apocynaceae.
Its species epithet edulis comes from Latin which means "edible". [3] In fact, it is one of the rare climbing plants of Southeast Asia of which the fruits are eatable. [4]
It is a yellow sour edible fruit found in: India, Indo-China (Cambodia, Myanmar, and Isan (northeastern) with Chanthaburi Province of Thailand [5] as well as Vietnam) include Peninsular Malaysia. It may be known under a number of synonyms including "Willughbeia cochinchinensis". [6]
After its reddish lenticelled stems are excised, they exude a milky latex which produces a rubber called chittagong. [3] The roots can be used as a red dye [7] and it may be used medicinally in parts of Asia including Cambodia.
Local names include: kuy (គុយ) in Cambodia; gedraphol, laleng-tenga, bel-tata in India; dton-kuy (ต้นคุย), kuiton (เถาคุย), kreua (เครือ), and katong-katiew (กะตังกะติ้ว) in Thai; bak yang-pa (บักยางป่า) in Isan dialect. [5] [7] talaing-no in Myanmar; and guồi in Vietnamese. [8]
Kubal madu in Indonesia refers to a similar edible relative, W. sarawacensis .