''Flacourtia jangomas'', or also known as the Indian coffee plum, Indian plum, or scramberry, is a lowland and mountain

rain forest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

tree in the family

Salicaceae The Salicaceae are the willow family of flowering plants. The traditional family (Salicaceae ''sensu stricto'') includes the willows, poplars. Genetic studies summarized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) have greatly expanded the circumsc ...

. It was once placed in the

Flacourtiaceae The Flacourtiaceae is a defunct family of flowering plants whose former members have been scattered to various families, mostly to the Achariaceae and Salicaceae. It was so vaguely defined that hardly anything seemed out of place there and it bec ...

family. It is widely cultivated in

Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...

and

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

, and has escaped cultivation in a number of places. Its wild origin is unknown but is speculated to be tropical Asia, most likely India and Sri Lanka. This tree is very common in Southern and South Western India along the Western Ghats, and is of culinary and medical importance, especially in

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

Description

Tree

''Flacourtia jangomas'' is a small, deciduous

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

that grows to a height of 6-10m. Trunk and branches are commonly thornless in old trees, but densely beset with simple or branched, blunt woody thorns when younger. Bark is light-brown to copper-red with a flaky texture and the leaves are light green and narrow ovate in shape. The leaves and roots contain

tannin Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and Precipitation (chemistry), precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' is widel ...

Flowers and fruit

It produces small white to whitish green fragrant flowers. The relatively juicy fruits are rounded pink to dark red and about wide. The flesh is greenish yellow. The plant is

dioecious Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

, having separate reproductive organs on different individuals, producing either male or female flowers. File:Flacourtia jangomas in a cup 2.jpeg, Close up of ''F. jangomas'' fruit File:Lubika.jpg, Lubika fruit cross section

Ecology

The plant is considered one of the primary host plants of the Queensland fruit fly (''

Bactrocera tryoni ''Bactrocera tryoni'', the Queensland fruit fly, is a species of fly in the family Tephritidae in the insect order Diptera. ''B. tryoni'' is native to subtropical coastal Queensland and northern New South Wales. They are active during the day, b ...

'').

Common names

* Bengali: , লুকলুকি * Assamese: (পনিয়ল) * English: ''Indian coffee plum'', ''Indian sour cherry'', ''rukam'', ''runeala plum'', ''scramberry'' * Hindi: (तालिसपत्री), ''Pani amla'' (पानी आमला) * Manipuri: ( হৈত্ৰোঈ ) * Konkanni: ''Jagomma'' * Thai: * Rohingya, Chittagonian: * Sanskrit: , (स्रुववृक्ष) * Sylheti: (ꠟꠥꠇꠟꠥꠇꠤ), ''kulkuli'' (ꠇꠥꠟꠇꠥꠟꠤ) * Malayalam: (ലൂബിക്ക), (ലൂവിക്ക), (ലൗലോലിക്ക), , * Tamil: * Mizo: * Malay: * Castellano Panama: ''uva de monte'', ''uvita'', ''guinda'' * Kundapura Kannada: Chape(ಚಾಪೆ)

Uses

Food

''Flacourtia jangomas'' fruits are widely eaten around South Asia, both raw and cooked. They are noted for their mild sour and tangy taste. The fruits are pickled, salt-dried or cooked in Indian curries. They can also be blended into juices or made into jams and marmalades which are immensely popular in Southern India. Commercially produced coffee plum jams and pickles are exported across the world by various companies, mainly from Kerala.

Medicine

In South Asian folkloric medicine, the fruits and leaves of Indian coffee plum are used against diarrhea. Dried leaves are reportedly effective for bronchitis and roots are said to suppress toothache. The bark of ''Flacourtia jangomas'' has various antifungal and antibacterial constituents which makes it an important ingredient for a few Ayurvedic drugs. Ground bark paste is also used for curing many common ailments in the tribal settlements of Western Ghat.

Lumber

The wood is sometimes harvested for

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

in the Indian states of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

and

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. It is often used as a cheaper alternative to

Teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panic ...

and other expensive wood.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1900509 jangomas