Flacourtia jangomas (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Flacourtia jangomas (Lour.) Raeuschel

Family: Flacourtiaceae

Vernacular names

• Indian plum (En)
• Indonesia: rukem (Java), situ (Ace)
• Malaysia: kerkup
• Cambodia: krâkhôp khmaèr
• Thailand: takhop-khwai (central), makwen-khwai (northern), khrop (Pattani)
• Vietnam: hông quân, muôn quân, bô quân.

Distribution

Only known cultivated in tropical Africa and Asia, especially in home gardens around villages.

Uses

Fruits are eaten raw but are rather astringent. They serve better to make marmalades. Leaves and roots contain tannin and are used against diarrhoea. The wood is hard and used for small utensils.

Observations

• Small deciduous tree, up to 14 m tall, spiny when young.
• Leaves ovate-oblong, 5-11 cm × 2-5 cm.
• Flowers unisexual.
• Fruit a subglobose berry, about 2 cm diameter, red to black, with 4-10 seeds.

In lowland areas up to 600 m altitude.

Selected sources

• Morton, J.F., 1987. Fruits of warm climates. Creative Resource Systems Inc., Winterville, N.C., USA. 503 pp.

• van Steenis, C.G.G.J. et al. (Editors), 1950-. Flora Malesiana. Series 1. Vol. 1, 4-10. Centre for Research and Development in Biology, Bogor, Indonesia, and Rijksherbarium, Leiden, the Netherlands. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Boston, London.

Authors

P.C.M. Jansen, J. Jukema, L.P.A. Oyen, T.G. van Lingen