Sunday, December 4, 2011

Santol tree



 "
The santol is a fast-growing, straight-trunked, pale-barked tree 50 to 150 ft (15-45 m) tall, branched close to the ground and buttressed when old. Young branchlets are densely brown-hairy. The evergreen, or very briefly deciduous, spirally-arranged leaves are compound, with 3 leaflets, elliptic to oblong-ovate, 4 to 10 in (20-25 cm) long, blunt at the base and pointed at the apex. The greenish, yellowish, or pinkish-yellow, 5-petalled flowers, about 3/8 in (1 cm) long are borne on the young branchlets in loose, stalked panicles 6 to 12 in (15-30 cm) in length. The fruit (technically a capsule) is globose or oblate, with wrinkles extending a short distance from the base; 1 1/2 to 3 in (4-7.5 cm) wide; yellowish to golden, sometimes blushed with pink. The downy rind may be thin or thick and contains a thin, milky juice. It is edible, as is the white, translucent, juicy pulp (aril), sweet, subacid or sour, surrounding the 3 to 5 brown, inedible seeds which are up to 3/4 in (2 cm) long, tightly clinging or sometimes free from the pulp.
The santol is believed native to former Indochina (especially Cambodia and southern Laos) and Malaya, and to have been long ago introduced into India, the Andaman Islands, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Moluccas, Mauritius, and the Philippines where it has become naturalized. It is commonly cultivated throughout these regions and the fruits are abundant in the local markets."http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/santol.html

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