''Nephelium ramboutan-ake'', the pulasan, is a tropical fruit in the soapberry family

Sapindaceae The Sapindaceae are a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales known as the soapberry family. It contains 138 genera and 1858 accepted species. Examples include horse chestnut, maples, ackee and lychee. The Sapindaceae occur in tempera ...

. It is closely related to the rambutan and sometimes confused with it. Other related soapberry family fruits include lychee and longan. Usually eaten fresh, it is sweeter than the rambutan and lychee, but very rare outside Southeast Asia.

Description

The name ''pulasan'' comes from the Malay word ''pulas'' (twist), related to the

Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...

''pilas'' (rip, tear). The fruit is opened through the act of twisting the fruit with both hands, thus the name ''pulasan''. The pulasan tree is an

ornamental Ornamental may refer to: *Ornamental grass, a type of grass grown as a decoration *Ornamental iron, mild steel that has been formed into decorative shapes, similar to wrought iron work *Ornamental plant, a plant that is grown for its ornamental qua ...

. It attains a height of 10–15 m and has a short trunk to 30–40 cm thick. The

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