Sarcotheca griffithii (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Sarcotheca griffithii (Planchon ex Hook.f.) Hall.f.

Family: Oxalidaceae

Synonyms

• Connaropsis griffithii Planchon ex Hook.f.
• Dapania griffithii (Planch. ex Hook. f.) Knuth.

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: asam pupoi, belimbing hutan, jintek-jintek (Sumatra)
• Peninsular Malaysia: pupoi, kupoi.

Distribution

Indonesia (Sumatra), Peninsular Malaysia.

Uses

The acid fruits are used in curries and preserves or eaten fresh if plenty of sugar is added. The wood is reddish and fairly durable.

Observations

• Tree, up to 42 m tall, trunk up to 1 m in diameter, buttresses up to 4 m high.
• Leaves trifoliolate.
• Fruit an ellipsoid capsule, 2-3 cm × 1-2 cm, greenish-yellow with glassy yellow mesocarp.

In first storey of primary forest on sandy clay on dry to temporarily flooded land. The leaves irrite the skin. Flowering and fruiting continuously.

Selected sources

• Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2nd ed. 2 Volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 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