Common Name: Rukam Masam

General Information

Rukam masam is an evergreen, short-boled, bushy tree with a compact, rounded crown; it can grow 7.5 - 9 metres tall[, ].
The tree is sometimes cultivated in tropical areas, mainly from India to China, for its edible fruit[317,336].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Of unknown origin, it is cultivated in Sri Lanka, Malaya and Indonesia.

Habitat

Not known in a truly wild location[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	8.00 m
Cultivation Status	Cultivated

Cultivation Details

A plant of hot, humid, tropical lowlands[]. Very susceptible to frost injury[].

Flowering occurs several times a year.
Yield varies from 37 - 110 kg a year[]. Those given good cultural attention may bear a total of 170-262 kg[].
Trees are said to live for about 20 years[].
A number of cultivated strains have been developed. These are mostly thornless and could have been derived from an ancestral thorny plant F. inermis var moluccana, native to the Moluccas and New Guinea[].
Unlike many species in this genus, this plant has hermaphrodite flowers[].

Edible Uses

Fruit - occasionally eaten raw, more commonly cooked[, ]. It is usually astringent with an acid flavour, though it can be sweet[, ]. It is often cooked with apples to add colour, or can be made into pies, jam, jelly, syrup, chutney and pickles[]. The bright red, thin-skinned fruit is round with a whitish flesh that is tinged with pink[]. It is about 20 - 25mm in diameter and contains 4 to 14 hard, sharp, irregular seeds under 6 mm wide[].

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed -
Air-layering.
Budding

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