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Nephelium lappaceum
Also called Pulasan
In Singapore: Rambutan, Hairy Lychee, 红毛丹
Rambutan is a medium-sized tropical tree whose sweet, hairy-skinned fruit is widely eaten. It needs a warm, humid, frost-free climate with good drainage, and commercial trees must be grafted or budded because seedling trees are often male or unproductive.
Rambutan (; Nephelium lappaceum) is a medium-sized tropical tree in the family Sapindaceae, and the edible fruit of this tree. The fruit is sweet, with a hairy leathery rind and a single seed. The rambutan is native to Southeast Asia; its centre of diversity is in Indonesia.
Rambutans are grown commercially within 12–15° of the equator. The trees grow well at elevations up to 500 m (1,600 ft) above sea level and do best in deep soil, clay loam, or sandy loam rich in organic matter. They grow on hilly terrain where there is good drainage.
Rambutans can be grown from seed, but since as many as 2/3 of the resulting trees are male, and most of the female trees are unproductive, vegetative propagation with some form of grafting on to a rootstock is essential for commercial production. Air-layering and traditional graft methods such as cleft-grafting are described as not very satisfactory; budding works much better.
The flesh of the rambutan may be eaten raw by splitting the peel. It can be stewed or canned to provide a dessert. A jam is made in Malaysia, with the flesh cooked with sugar and cloves. The seed is high in fatty acids, especially oleic acid and arachidic acid, and used in the manufacture of soap. The roots, bark, and leaves are used in traditional medicine.
Korlan · Nephelium lappaceum var. pallens · Pulasan · Nephelium xerospermoides
[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 Rambutan 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.
