Carambola (Averrhoa carambola)

Carambola (Averrhoa carambola) is a slow growing tree from the Malay Region. In nature, the trees will reach about 30 feet tall and about half as wide. The alternate, odd-pinnate leaves are somewhat sensitive — leaves fold together at night, much like mimosas. The trees produce a fruit known as a star fruit, which is an astringent fruit with a sweet and sour flavour. The slow growing nature of these trees makes them an excellent container tree. It is best propagated from seed.

The fruit is rich in juice to the extent that one can make wine out of them. In Burma, it is used for making Tea pickle. In western cuisines, it’s unique shape lends itself mainly as a garnish. Carambola wood is white, becoming reddish with age; close-grained, medium-hard. It has been utilized for construction and furniture.

Taxonomy:

Kingdom : Plantae
Division : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Order : Oxalidales
Family : Oxalidaceae
Genus : Averrhoa
Species : Averrhoa carambola

Pronunciation/Meaning:

• Averrhoa (av-er-OH-uh) - Named for Averrhoes, an Arabian physician.
• carambola (kah-rahm-BOH-luh) - Latin form of an Aboriginal name.

Common Names:

• Carambola, Starfruit, Chinese Star Fruit, Five-angled Fruit, Star Apple, Bilimbi, Belimbing, Coromandel Gooseberry

Links:

• California Rare Fruit Growers - Carambola
• Plant of the Week - Carambola
• Purdue University : Center for New Crops & Plant Products - Carambola

Image Courtesy of Man-wah Leung.

Fragrant Screw Pine (Pandanus tectorius)

Fragrant Screw Pine (Pandanus tectorius syn. Pandanus odoratissimus) is a shrub with fragrant flowers found wild in southern India, Burma and the Andamans. It is a small, slender, branching tree with a flexuous trunk supported by brace roots. With rosettes of long-pointed, stiffly leathery, spiny, bluish-green, fragrant leaves, it bears in summer very fragrant flowers. It is used as perfumed aromatic oil (kevda oil) and fragrant distillation (otto) called “keorra-ka-arak”. These are stimulant and antispasmodic and are used in headache and rheumatism. The flowers are also used to flavour food. The male flowers are almost exclusively used in the form of a watery distillate called kewra water.

The flowers have a sweet, perfumed odour that has a pleasant quality similar to rose flowers, but kewra is more fruity. The flower is not used in worship: it is supposedly cursed by Lord Shiva for bearing false witness of Lord Brahma.

Taxonomy:

Kingdom : Plantae
Division : Magnoliophyta
Class : Liliopsida
Order : Pandanales
Family : Pandanaceae
Genus : Pandanus
Species : Pandanus tectorius

Pronunciation/Meaning:

• Pandanus (PAN-dan-us) - From the Malayan word for this plant.
• tectorius (tek-TOR-ee-us) - Referring to roof.

Common Names:

• Fragrant Screw Pine, Umbrella Tree, Screw Pine, Screw Tree (English)
• Kewda, Kewra (Hindi)
• Ketaki (Sanskrit)
• Kevada (Marathi, Gujrati)
• Thazhampoo, Thazhai (Tamil)
• Mugali, Kaitha (Malayalam)
• Tale hoovu, Kedige (Kannada)
• Mugali (Telugu)
• Ketuki (Bengali)

Links:

• Flowers of India - Fragrant Screw Pine
• Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages - Fragrant Screw Pine

Image Courtesy of Rohana Kamarul Ariffin.

Harlequin Glory Bower (Clerodendrum trichotomum)

Harlequin Glory Bower (Clerodendrum trichotomum) is a coarse, sometimes unkempt, deciduous shrub or small tree that grows 10-20’ tall, native to China and Japan. As an ornamental, this shrub is perhaps best noted for its late summer flowers, showy fruit and malodorous foliage. Tubular, fragrant, white flowers in long-peduncled cymes bloom in the upper leaf axils from late summer into fall.

Flowers are followed by small bright blue fruits, each subtended by a fleshy red calyx. Opposite, toothed to entire, ovate, dark green leaves produce no fall colour. When bruised, the leaves do produce a unique aroma reminiscent of peanut butter as memorialised by the sometimes used common name of peanut butter tree for this plant.

Taxonomy:

Kingdom : Plantae
Division : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Order : Lamiales
Family : Verbenaceae
Genus : Clerodendrum
Species : Clerodendrum trichotomum

Pronunciation/Meaning:

• Verbenaceae (ver-be-NAY-see-ay) - The Verbena (vervain) family.
• Clerodendrum (kler-oh-DEN-drum) - Chance (or luck) tree.
• trichotomum (try-KOH-toh-mum) - Branching into three.

Common Names:

• Harlequin Glory Bower, Peanut Butter Shrub, Japanese Clerodendrum, Fate Tree

Links:

• Flowers of India - Harlequin Glory Bower
• Plants for a future - Harlequin Glory Bower
• Missouri Botanical Garden : Plant Finder - Harlequin Glory Bower

Images Courtesy of Lisa and Alan.

Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo)

The Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo) is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the family Ericaceae, native to the Mediterranean region and western Europe north to western France and Ireland. It is an evergreen broad leaf shrub or small tree with a spreading, picturesque habit, and gray-brown bark that flakes and peels in thin plates to reveal the reddish young bark beneath.

The species can get up to 30 ft tall and just as wide but many of the popular cultivars are smaller. In the south-eastern US strawberry tree rarely exceeds 8 - 12 ft in height. The leathery leaves are glossy on top, oblong or oval with toothed margins, and 2 - 4 inch long. Older specimens develop attractive twisted and gnarled trunks and branches. Here in North Florida, strawberry tree begins blooming in autumn and continues into the winter. The small white or pinkish blueberry-like flowers are assembled in drooping panicles about 2 inch long. The spherical bright red fruits are warty and about 3/4 inch in diameter. They take a year to ripen, and both flowers and fruits can be present at the same time. Strawberry tree in fruit is very showy.

Taxonomy:

Kingdom : Plantae
Division : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Order : Ericales
Family : Ericaceae
Genus : Arbutus
Species : Arbutus unedo

Pronunciation/Meaning:

• Ericaceae (er-ek-AY-see-ay) - The Erica (heather) family.
• Arbutus (ar-BYOO-tus) - The Latin name for this plant.
• unedo (YOO-nee-doe) - From the Latin meaning “I eat (only) one”, referring to the fruit’s edible, but marginally palatable qualities.

Common Names:

• Strawberry Tree, Killarney Strawberry Tree, Irish Strawberry Tree, Arbutus, Cane Apples, Apple of Cain

Links:

• Floridata - Strawberry Tree
• BBC Gardening : Plant Finder - Strawberry Tree
• Plants for a future - Strawberry Tree

Image Courtesy of rarefruitfan.

Candle Tree (Parmentiera cereifera)

The Candle tree (Parmentiera cereifera syn. Parmentiera edulis, Crescentia aculeata) is a tree of the family Bignoniaceae. The Candle tree is a relative of the Calabash tree. The tree produces thousands of 12-30 inch long, waxy skinned, green-yellow fruits resembling tapered candles. The Candle Tree is a relative of the sausage tree, and is native to Central America.

The fruit is a yellowish green berry that hangs off the branch like candles. The fruits and seeds of this tree are considered to be edible and are generally safe for human consumption. Interestingly, the flowers emerge directly on the bark of the tree. It is also grown as an ornamental for its flowers and unusual appearance when the fruits are ripening.

Taxonomy:

Kingdom : Plantae
Division : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Order : Lamiales
Family : Bignoniaceae
Genus : Parmentiera
Species : Parmentiera cereifera

Pronunciation/Meaning:

• Bignoniaceae (big-no-nih-AY-see-ay) - The Bignonia family, named for the Abbe Jean Paul Bignon.
• Parmentiera (Pahr-ment-yeer-uh) - Named for French horticulturist Antoine Parmentier.
• cereifera (ker-EE-fer-uh) - Bearing wax.

Common Names:

• Candle Tree, Candle Stick Tree

Links:

• Flowers of India - Candle Tree

Image Courtesy of Kurt Allerslev.