Posts Tagged ‘Fruit’

ASAM KUNDANG (MARIAN PLUM) FOR SHELTER

Sunday, June 6th, 2010

It is a kind of evergreen plant and abundantly found in Malaysia and Sumatera.  Some called it as ‘kundangan’ and in some places it is called ‘asam kendung.’ In the Malaysian state of Kedah, it is called ‘setar.’

It grows to height of 25 meters. Its leaves are lanceolate to elliptic in shape, and range from 13 to 45 cm (5 to 17 inches) long and from 5 to 7cm (2 to 3 inches) wide.

The tree is popularly grown at the house compounds in some parts of Sabah and Sarawak as shades and as source for local recipes. Scientifically known as Bouea macrophylla from the Anacardiaceae Family, and is known in English as the Marian plum, gandaria, and plum mango. The leaves are tenacious, oval-shape and grow in pairs along the branch. The fruits are green in colour and mature to an orange/yellow. They grow to roughly 2 to 5 cm in diameter. The entire fruit, including its single seed, is edible. The fruit range from sweet to sour in flavour, and have a light smell of turpentine.

Both the leaves and fruit from the tree can be eaten. The leaves can be eaten raw when they are still young, and can be used in salads. While the seed is edible, the endosperm is generally bitter. Fruit can be eaten raw, or made into dishes such as pickle, compote, or sambal. Unripened fruit can be used to make rojak and asinine.

The nutrition content of the fruit is Vitamin A, C and dietary fibre.

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ASAM GELUGUR (GARCINIA) TREATS CRACKED HEELS

Sunday, June 6th, 2010

The Asam gelugur tree is cetegorised as a flatland forest tree. It grows to a height of 20 m and has long trunk, smooth grey bark and drooping branches. The leaves are dark green, shiny, long narrow and with a pointed tip and upturned edges. The tree also produces yellowish and sticky latex. The flowers are dark red and the round yellow to orange fruits are borne singly on twig ends and are 7-10 cm in diameter. They are heavy, longitudinally grooved by 12 to 16 and are flattened at the apex.

Its other name is Garcinia while scientifically called Garcinia atroviridis from the Guttiferae family.  A full-grown Asam Gelugur tree looks like a cone, with the branches entangling against the length of the trunk.

Young sprout leaves can be consumed as vegetable.  Its main use is as apetiser or culinary ingredient.  The fruit is extremely sour but useful as remedy in the alternative medicine world.

The most known quality of an Asam Gelurur is its remedy for cracked heels. Just boil the dried fruits in water and when lukewarm dip the affected areas into it for a few minutes. A riped fruit is cut into pieces and patched on the forehead to ease prolong headaches.

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ARA DANI (RANGOON CREEPER) RELIEVES HEADACHE

Sunday, June 6th, 2010

Ara Dani, also called as Rangoon Creeper, Red Jasmine and Drunken Sailor, is a creeping plant.  The leaves are elliptic and pointed at the ends, in pairs along the stems.  The stems are hard and elastic.  Young stems are green in colour while older ones are black.

The flowers grow and bloom in bunch and clusters.  Flower buds are white and will eventually turn red when blooming and pink when near drop.  The stems are long that make them look attractively cascading.  The plant is suitable as fence decoration.

The flowers normally bloom at night and produce sweet scent.  The fruits are small, about 3cm long and black-like in colour.

The scientific name is Quisqualis indica L. Also known as the dani root, udani, redani, and the vampire root, the plant is easy to grow by branch cuttings.  Slicing the tip of the branch can also help the plant to branch out.

Kamarudin Mat-Salleh (2002) quoted from Burkill (1935) that the water that has been dipped with young Ara Dani fruits can be consumed as remedy for diarrhoea and as a vermifuge agent to get rid of worms from our body.  It is also useful to cure headaches.

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THE MULTI-PURPOSE ANGSANA (BURMESE ROSEWOOD) TREE

Sunday, June 6th, 2010

The Angsana tree is categorized as a timber plant that can reach up to 30 meters in height and the trunk measures up to 3 to 3 ½ meters in diameter.  The wood is suitable to make furniture.

The trunk base spots artistic curvy and decorative veneer surface and if angularly sliced into thick pieces can be used as unique table tops.  The trunk however will produce reddish-like resin if cut or ‘injured.’

Pterocarpus indicus is its scientific name from the Legumisosae family. Popularly known as the ‘Pokok Sena’ or ‘Pokok Sano’ in Malaysia, its leaves are pinnate and densely grown at the branch tips that make them stoop downwards.  The tree is suitable as shades.

The flowers are produced in panicles containing a few to numerous flowers, slightly fragrant and have yellow or orange-yellow petals. The fruit is a semi orbicular pod 2–3 cm diameter, surrounded by a flat 4–6 cm diameter membranaceous wing which aids dispersal by the wind. It contains one or two seeds, and does not split open at maturity; it ripens and becomes brown when dry.

The central part of the pod can be smooth, bristly or intermediate.

In the alternative medicine sphere, the Angsana has been proven effective especially the leaf, bark and resins.  The young leaves are used as remedy to help cure high fever, boils, dry skin (at the heel) and mouth ulcer.

For treating high fever, the leaves are fondled with little water and dapped onto the body.  For boils, the leaves are seared near fire for heat and applied with cooking oil and seared again near fire and patched on the boils. Resins from the bark can be used to heal dry skins at the heel by applying it on the problematic area; the bark is boiled with water and when lukewarm, the water can be gargled to treat mouth ulcers.

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