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Pangium edule
In Singapore: Kepayang, Pangi, Buah Keluak, Keluak, Payang (Cultivated in Singapore)
1 NParks heritage tree in Singapore: Found in Singapore Botanic Gardens, Lawn H
Pangium edule is a tall tree of mangrove swamps in Southeast Asia and the western Pacific, and the only species in its genus; the large fruit is deadly raw but edible after prolonged boiling and fermentation. It is grown mainly from wild-harvested seed because trees take many years to mature, so it is not practical as a garden plant.
Pangium is a genus in the family Achariaceae containing the sole species Pangium edule, a tall tree native to the mangrove swamps of Southeast Asia (from the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia to Papua New Guinea, and extending eastward to the Vanuatu and Micronesia). It produces a large poisonous fruit (the "football fruit" or pangi) which can be made edible by fermentation. It is dioecious, with male and female flowers produced on separate individuals.
The tree requires many years to mature, and the seeds are therefore most frequently harvested from wild trees, as it is not economically feasible to cultivate. Although poisonous to humans, the seeds of the tree form part of the natural diet of the babirusa (Babyroussa babyrussa).
The fresh fruit and seeds contain hydrogen cyanide, and are thus deadly poisonous if consumed without prior preparation. The seeds are first boiled and then buried in ash, banana leaves and earth for forty days, during which time they turn from a creamy white colour to dark brown or black. The method relies on the fact that the hydrogen cyanide released by the boiling and fermentation is water-soluble and easily washed out.
[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 Pangium 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.
