''Syzygium malaccense'' is a species of

flowering Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

tree native to tropical Asia and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is one of the species cultivated since prehistoric times by the

Austronesian peoples The Austronesian people, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples who have settled in Taiwan, maritime Southeast Asia, parts of mainland Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melan ...

. They were carried and introduced deliberately to

Remote Oceania Remote Oceania is the part of Oceania first settled within the last 5,000 to 5,500 years (i.e. since 3500 BC), comprising (first inhabitants) the Chamorro from the Mariana Islands, all Micronesian Islands (such as the Caroline Islands includi ...

canoe plants One of the major Early human migrations, human migration events was the Maritime history, maritime Austronesian expansion, settlement of Austronesia, the islands of the Indo-Pacific by the Austronesian peoples, believed to have started from at l ...

. In modern times, it has been introduced throughout the

tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

, including many

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

countries and territories.

Names

''Syzygium malaccense'' has a number of English common names. It is known as a Malay rose apple, or simply Malay apple, mountain apple, rose apple, Otaheite apple, pink satin-ash, plumrose and ''pommerac'' (derived from , meaning "Malayan apple" in

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

). Despite the fact that it is sometimes called the Otaheite cashew, it is not related to

cashew Cashew is the common name of a tropical evergreen tree ''Anacardium occidentale'', in the family Anacardiaceae. It is native to South America and is the source of the cashew nut and the cashew apple, an accessory fruit. The tree can grow as t ...

. While cashew nuts (but not cashew fruits) may trigger allergic reactions, rose apple fruit has not been observed to do so. In Costa Rica it is known as . It is found mainly in the rainy zones on the Atlantic coast of the country. In Colombia, Puerto Rico, and other Latin American countries it is also found and known as . In Venezuela it is known as .

Description

The combination of tree, flowers and fruit has been praised as the most beautiful of the genus ''Syzygium''. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

is oblong-shaped and dark red in color, although some varieties have white or pink skins. The flesh is white and surrounds a large

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

. Its taste is bland but refreshing.

Jam Fruit preserves are preparations of fruits whose main preserving agent is sugar and sometimes acid, often stored in glass jars and used as a condiment or spread. There are many varieties of fruit preserves globally, distinguished by the meth ...

is prepared by stewing the flesh with

brown sugar Brown sugar is a sucrose sugar product with a distinctive brown color due to the presence of molasses. It is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals with some residual molasses content or produced by t ...

and

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

. The tree is a medium to large perennial, growing 5-15 meters tall. Its leaves are simple, elliptical, or oval-shaped with pointed tips and smooth edges. The leaves are thick and glossy. The flowers grow in clusters at the branch ends, displaying bright pink or red colors. The fruit is bell-shaped, round, or oval, green when unripe, and turns red or red-streaked white when ripe, containing a single large seed inside.

Cultivation

Malay apple is a strictly tropical tree and will be damaged by freezing temperatures. It thrives in humid climates with an annual rainfall of or more. It can grow at a variety of

altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...

s, from

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

up to . The tree can grow to in height. It flowers in early summer, bearing fruit three months afterward. In

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

, it flowers earlier, with ripe fruit in April. Coffee growers use the species to both divert birds and provide shade. In Hawaii, ''Syzygium malaccense'' is called mountain apple or 'Ōhi'a 'ai. When the

Polynesians Polynesians are an ethnolinguistic group comprising closely related ethnic groups native to Polynesia, which encompasses the islands within the Polynesian Triangle in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Sout ...

reached the Hawaiian Islands, they brought plants and animals that were important to them. The mountain apple was one of these "

," arriving 1000–1700 years ago.

Nutrition

The mountain apple is an edible fruit that can be consumed when raw and ripe. In

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, the Malay apple is used to make

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

s, in Hawai'i, the fruits are consumed the same way a Pacific Northwest apple is eaten.

Indonesians Indonesians (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ''orang Indonesia'') are citizens or people who are identified with the country of Indonesia, regardless of their ethnic or religious background. There are more than Ethnic groups in Indonesia, 1,300 ...

consume the flowers of the tree in salads and in

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

the skin of the mountain apple is cooked down to make a syrup. A mountain apple has a white fleshy fruit that has a similar texture to a

pear Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in late summer into mid-autumn. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the Family (biology), family Rosaceae, bearing the Pome, po ...

but less sweet than an

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

. Below is a chart with more

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemistry, biochemical and physiology, physiological process by which an organism uses food and water to support its life. The intake of these substances provides organisms with nutrients (divided into Macronutrient, macro- ...

information derived from Malay apples found in

Hawai'i Hawaii ( ; ) is an island state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only state not on the North American mainland, th ...

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

, and

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. Due to the high water content, the Mountain Apple is lower in calories than a Gala apple or a Fuji apple and contains a moderate amount of vitamins and minerals.

History

In 1793, Captain

William Bligh William Bligh (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817) was a Vice-admiral (Royal Navy), Royal Navy vice-admiral and colonial administrator who served as the governor of New South Wales from 1806 to 1808. He is best known for his role in the Muti ...

was commissioned to procure edible fruits from the

Pacific Islands The Pacific islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of several ...

for

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, including this species. He brought back this from Tahiti (called Otaheite at the time).

Gallery

File:Syzygium malaccense at Kadavoor.jpg, Flower buds File:Starr 070321-6134 Syzygium malaccense.jpg, Fruits File:Pommerac01.JPG, Fruits File:Pommerac.whole.jpg, A ripened ''Syzygium malaccense'' whole File:Pommerac.cut.jpg, A ripened ''Syzygium malaccense'' cut into half, showing the seed Syzygium malaccense, Tallinn Botanic Garden 03.jpg, Foliage

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q31936 malaccense Trees of Australia Trees of Malesia Trees of Papuasia Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Fruit trees Austronesian agriculture