Rambutan
| Rambutan | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rambutan ( Nephelium lappaceum ), fruit (with peel and peeled) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Nephelium lappaceum | ||||||||||||
| L. |
Rambutan ( Nephelium lappaceum ) is a species of the soap tree family (Sapindaceae). This tropical plant species is related to the lychee tree ( Litchi chinensis ). The common name rambutan is derived from the Malay word rambut , which means "hair" and refers to the fruit, which is densely covered with soft spines. Hence the fruit is also called hairy or false lychee . In the Malay Archipelago , the rambutan is one of the most common fruit trees.
description
_02_crop.JPG)
Rambutan grows as an evergreen tree with a spreading crown and reaches heights of 25 to 45 meters, but is usually quite a bit smaller, in culture it is only 3 to 5 meters high. He is an upright habit . The trunk diameter can be up to 60-125 centimeters and buttress roots meter high are formed.
The alternate standing, stalked leaves are paired feathered from one to five pairs of short stalked pinna leaflet composed. The leaves are about 20–40 centimeters and the petiole about 5–15 centimeters long, the leaflets are 10–25 centimeters long and 5–10 centimeters wide. The egg-shaped to elliptical or lanceolate as well as obovate-shaped, leathery leaflets are dull yellowish green to dark green in color, when they shoot they are tinged with reddish. The entire, almost bare leaves are rounded to rounded or pointed. The veins are pinnate and lighter, often changing.
Nephelium lappaceum is monoecious or dioecious dioecious . The plant blooms and bears twice a year; the 2.5 to 5 mm small, sweet-smelling flowers stand in upright axillary and terminal, 30 cm long panicles . The unisexual, functionally male or female, short-stalked flowers with usually a simple flower cover are white to yellow-green. There is usually only a small calyx with 4–6 lobes, more or less hairy on the inside and outside, the petals are usually absent or are greatly reduced.
The flowers are 5-8 stamens and female flowers above a permanent, 2-3 times kugellappigen and warty ovary with an undergraduate stylus long with 2-3 and tongue-shaped, curled scars . The stamens are long and protruding in the male flowers, shorter in the female and the anthers do not open here. There is a short pistillode on the male flowers. There is a slightly lobed discus in each case.
The approximately 3–6 centimeters large, round to ellipsoidal fruits hang loosely to 10 to 20 in a panicle. The non-opening, stone fruit- like fruit ripens 15 to 18 weeks after flowering. It is surrounded by a pink to bright red, leathery, more or less thick shell with dense, long, soft and bulbous spines that protect the sweet, aromatic tasting, milky-white, jelly-like, watery flesh ( sarcotesta or arillus ) . The almond-like, finely ribbed seed with a crusty outer shell ( Sclerotesta or Testa ) hangs firmly on the pulp. At the height of its strength, the supporting tree can produce up to 6,000 fruits with a total weight of around 70 kilograms.
Varieties and sorts
From Nephelium lappaceum three varieties exist:
- Nephelium lappaceum var. Lappaceum
- Nephelium lappaceum var. Pallens (Hiern) Leenh.
- Nephelium lappaceum var. Xanthioides (Radlk.) Leenh.
Furthermore, there are well over 200 cultivated forms.
distribution
The rambutan is originally widespread in Southeast Asia . As a cultivated plant, it is found in the tropics 15 ° along the equator in Africa , the Caribbean , Central America , India , Indonesia , Malaysia , Cambodia , Ecuador and Vietnam , the Philippines and Sri Lanka , and increasingly in parts of Australia and Hawaii . The largest producer, however, is Thailand . The original home of the tree is Indonesia. As a tropical plant it needs temperatures above 10 ° C as well as humus and nutrient-rich, well- drained soils.
Multiplication
The rambutan reproduces via the almond-shaped seeds of the fruit, but is usually propagated in culture via cuttings . The plant is not self-fertilizing. Rambutan is an important source of nectar for bees in Indonesia , which is also the main pollinator; other pollinators are butterflies and flies .
use
fruit
The fruit is a food that is widely valued, especially in Asia. It is eaten both raw and prepared in various ways. In canned goods , the seed is sometimes replaced by a piece of pineapple .
Seeds
The edible seeds of the plant, which contain fats and oils similar to cocoa butter (rambutan tallow) - mainly oleic acid and arachidic acid - are used in the production of edible fats, candles and soaps.
Others
The roots, the bark and the leaves of the rambutan are used in various ways as medicinal plants in Asian folk medicine , but are also used as coloring agents.
literature
- F. Adema, PW Leenhouts, PC van Welzen: Flora Malesiana. Ser. 1, Vol. 11, Pt. 3, 1994, pp. 669-684, online at biodiversitylibrary.org.
- NR Djuita, A. Hartana, T. Chikmawati, D. Dorly: Pulasan [(Nephelium ramboutan-ake (Labill.) Leenh.] Fruit trees: Variations in flower morphology, and associated differences in pollination type. In: International Journal of Plant Biology. 7 (1), 2016, doi: 10.4081 / pb.2016.6149 .
- S. Muhamed, S. Kurien: Phenophases of rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum L.) based on extended BBCH- scale for Kerala, India. In: Current Plant Biology. Volume 13, 2018, pp. 37-44, doi: 10.1016 / j.cpb.2017.10.001 .
Web links
- Nephelium lappaceum on Useful Tropical Plants.
- Nephelium lappaceum (PDF) at World Agroforestry (ICRAF).
- Taxonomic information (English)
- Nephelium lappaceum in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: World Conservation Monitoring Center, 1998. Retrieved on December 31 of 2008.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Waldemar Ternes , Alfred Täufel, Lieselotte Tunger, Martin Zobel (eds.): Food Lexicon . 4th, comprehensively revised edition. Behr, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-89947-165-2 . P. 1533.
- ^ Nephelium lappaceum at KEW Science.
- ^ Project description for export to the EU (PDF), at Universidad del Ecuador (Spanish).