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Dillenia indica
Also called Elephant apple, Dillenia
In Singapore: Elephant Apple, Simpoh Air, Simpoh Kuning, Simpuh, Chalta, Indian Simpoh, Chimpoh, Simpoh, Simpor, Peradun, Tipor, 五桠果 (Grown in Singapore)
Dillenia indica, the elephant apple, is an evergreen tree or large shrub from wet tropical Asia that grows well in moist, humid conditions. It is grown mainly for its large, sour, edible fruit, which is used in curries, jams and jellies.
Dillenia indica, commonly known as elephant apple or ou tenga, is a species of Dillenia (Family Dilleniaceae) native to China, India, and tropical Asia. It is found in stony river banks.
This species was one of the many first described by Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae in 1759.
The name elephant apple comes from the fact that it produces a large hard edible fruit which is accessible only to the megaherbivores in the wild like elephants. A study in the Buxa Tiger Reserve by ecologists Sekar & Sukumar has shown that Asian elephants appear to have a particular fondness for the fruits of D. indica, and are hence an important seed disperser for this tree. With the prospect of extinction of the elephants this tree has developed a back-up system, whereby its hard fruits that were only accessible to megaherbivores, slowly soften on the forest floor through the dry season to allow access to successively smaller animals such as macaques, rodents and squirrels. Seeds from both old and soft fruits are able to germinate well, enabling the persistence of this tree to be independent of the survival of its major megaherbivore disperser.
The fruit pulp is sour and used in Indian cuisine in curries, jam (ouu khatta), and jellies.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dillenia indica by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
