Choerospondias axillaris
Encyclopedia
Choerospondias axillaris, known as Lapsi लप्सी in Nepali
also known in English as the "Nepali hog plum" and 南酸枣 in Mandarin (nan2 suan1 zao3), is a tree
in the family Anacardiaceae
. It is native to much of Asia from China
to India
to Japan
. Its fruit is about 3 centimeters long and has a soft whitish sour flesh and green to yellow skin. The fruit is made into pickles, fruit tarts, and sour, spicy candy in Nepal. The tree has long been cultivated in rural Nepal for its fruit. The fruit is nutritious and has a price comparable to the mandarin orange
on the Nepalese market.
This is a deciduous
tree growing up to 20 meters tall. The smaller branches are purple-brown in color. The compound leaves are up to 40 centimeters long and divided into 3 to 6 papery oval leaflets each up to 12 by 4.5 centimeters. The tree is dioecious
, with male and female trees producing different types of inflorescence
. Male flowers occur in long clusters and have curving, brown-veined petals about 3 millimeters long. Female flowers are solitary in leaf axils at the tips of branches. They are larger than the male flowers and yield the edible drupe
.
Besides fruit, the tree yields valuable wood and hard seeds which are burned for fuel, and has parts used medicinally
in Vietnam
.
Nepali language
Nepali or Nepalese is a language in the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family.It is the official language and de facto lingua franca of Nepal and is also spoken in Bhutan, parts of India and parts of Myanmar...
also known in English as the "Nepali hog plum" and 南酸枣 in Mandarin (nan2 suan1 zao3), is a tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
in the family Anacardiaceae
Anacardiaceae
Anacardiaceae are a family of flowering plants bearing fruits that are drupes and in some cases producing urushiol, an irritant. Anacardiaceae include numerous genera with several of economic importance. Notable plants in this family include cashew , mango, poison ivy, sumac, smoke tree, and marula...
. It is native to much of Asia from China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Its fruit is about 3 centimeters long and has a soft whitish sour flesh and green to yellow skin. The fruit is made into pickles, fruit tarts, and sour, spicy candy in Nepal. The tree has long been cultivated in rural Nepal for its fruit. The fruit is nutritious and has a price comparable to the mandarin orange
Mandarin orange
The orange, also known as the ' or mandarine , is a small citrus tree with fruit resembling other oranges. Mandarin oranges are usually eaten plain or in fruit salads...
on the Nepalese market.
This is a deciduous
Deciduous
Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
tree growing up to 20 meters tall. The smaller branches are purple-brown in color. The compound leaves are up to 40 centimeters long and divided into 3 to 6 papery oval leaflets each up to 12 by 4.5 centimeters. The tree is dioecious
Plant sexuality
Plant sexuality covers the wide variety of sexual reproduction systems found across the plant kingdom. This article describes morphological aspects of sexual reproduction of plants....
, with male and female trees producing different types of inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
. Male flowers occur in long clusters and have curving, brown-veined petals about 3 millimeters long. Female flowers are solitary in leaf axils at the tips of branches. They are larger than the male flowers and yield the edible drupe
Drupe
In botany, a drupe is a fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries...
.
Besides fruit, the tree yields valuable wood and hard seeds which are burned for fuel, and has parts used medicinally
Herbalism
Herbalism is a traditional medicinal or folk medicine practice based on the use of plants and plant extracts. Herbalism is also known as botanical medicine, medical herbalism, herbal medicine, herbology, herblore, and phytotherapy...
in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
.