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Lepisanthes alata

In Singapore: Johore Tree, Blimbing Cina (Grown in Singapore)

Lepisanthes alata
Photo: Berthe Hoola van Nooten, Public domain

Lepisanthes alata is a small tropical forest tree of Southeast Asia, grown for its sweet edible fruit, and it is a member of the lychee family. It needs warm, humid conditions and a shaded or semi-shaded position when young.

Family
Sapindaceae (Soapberry & maple family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Part shade, Bright indirect
Water
Keep soil evenly moist during the growing season and reduce watering slightly in the dry season.
Soil
Well-drained, moist, fertile loam or forest-type soil rich in organic matter.
Temperature
22–32 °C; protect below 15 °C
How easy
Moderate
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Native range
Borneo to Philippines
Climate
wet tropical

About

Lepisanthes alata, also called the Johore tree, blimbing cina, ceri or engkili, is a species of flowering plant, a tropical forest fruit-tree in the lychee family, that is native to Southeast Asia.

Where it grows

The species is found to Borneo. It occurs in mixed hill forest at elevations of up to 1,000 m.

[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 Lepisanthes alata 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.

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