Rambutan
Encyclopedia
The rambutan is a medium-sized tropical tree
in the family Sapindaceae
, and the fruit of this tree. It is native to Vietnam
, Indonesia
, the Philippines
, Sri Lanka
, Malaysia, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia
, although its precise natural distribution is unknown. It is closely related to several other edible tropical fruits including the lychee
, longan
, and mamoncillo
. It is believed to be native to the Malay Archipelago
, from where it spread westwards to Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka and India; eastwards to Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia. The name rambutan is derived from the Malay
word rambutan, meaning "hairy". In Vietnam
, it is called chôm chôm (meaning "messy hair") due to the spines covering the fruit's skin.
A second species regularly sold at Costa Rican markets is often known as "wild" rambutan. Yellow in color, it is a little smaller than the usual red variety. The flesh exposed when the outer skin is peeled off is sweet and sour, slightly grape-like and gummy to the taste. In Costa Rica
n Spanish
, it is known as mamón chino (translated "Chinese
sucker") due to its Asian origin and the likeness of the edible part with Melicoccus bijugatus.
Rambutan are non-climacteric
fruit - that is, they ripen only on the tree.
tree growing to a height of 12–20 m. The leaves are alternate, 10–30 cm long, pinnate, with 3-11 leaflets, each leaflet 5–15 cm wide and 3-10 cm broad, with an entire margin. The flowers are small, 2.5–5 mm, apetalous, discoidal, and borne in erect terminal panicle
s 15–30 cm wide.
Rambutan trees are either male (producing only staminate flowers and, hence, produce no fruit), female (producing flowers that are only functionally female), or hermaphroditic (producing flowers that are female with a small percentage of male flowers).
The fruit is a round to oval drupe
3–6 cm (rarely to 8 cm) tall and 3-4 cm broad, borne in a loose pendant cluster of 10-20 together. The leathery skin is reddish (rarely orange or yellow), and covered with fleshy pliable spines, hence the name rambutan, derived from the Malay word rambut which means hairs. The fruit flesh is translucent, whitish or very pale pink, with a sweet, mildly acidic flavor.
The single seed is glossy brown, 1–1.3 cm, with a white basal scar. The seed is soft and crunchy. They are mildly poisonous when raw, but may be cooked and eaten.
It is a popular garden fruit tree and propagated commercially in small orchard
s. It is one of the best known fruits of Southeast Asia and is also widely cultivated elsewhere in the tropics including Africa
, the Caribbean
islands, Costa Rica
, Panama
, India
, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Thailand is the largest producer from Surat Thani Province
Thailand
. Rambutan production is increasing in Australia
and, in 1997, was one of the top three tropical fruits produced in Hawaii
. It is also produced in Ecuador where it is known as "achotillo" and on the island of Puerto Rico
.
The fruit are usually sold fresh, used in making jams and jellies, or canned. Evergreen rambutan trees with their abundant coloured fruit make beautiful landscape specimens.
Another indicator of quality is the ease of detachment of the flesh from the seed. An easily detachable flesh normally will have bits of the woody seed coating. Thus, it is a common Malay wisdom to not eat too much rambutan when one has a cough.
, air-layering, and budding
; the latter is most common as trees grown from seed often produce sour fruit. Budded trees may fruit after 2–3 years with optimum production occurring after 8–10 years. Trees grown from seed bear after 5–6 years.
The aril
is attached to the seed in some commercial cultivars, but "freestone" cultivators are available and in high demand. There is usually a single light brown seed which is high in certain fats and oils (primarily oleic acid
and arachidic acid
) valuable to industry, and used in cooking and the manufacture of soap
. Rambutan roots, bark, and leaves have various uses in medicine and in the production of dyes.
Rambutan trees bear fruit twice annually, once in late fall and early winter with a shorter season in late spring and early summer. The fragile nutritious fruit must ripen on the tree, then they are harvested over a four to seven week period. The fresh fruit are easily bruised and have a limited shelf life. An average tree may produce 5,000-6,000 or more fruit (60–70 kg or 130-155 lb per tree). Yields begin at 1.2 tonnes per hectare (0.5 tons/acre) in young orchards and may reach 20 tonnes per hectare (8 tons per acre) on mature trees. In Hawaii
, 24 of 38 cultivated hectares (60 of 95 acres) were harvested producing 120 tonnes of fruit in 1997. It has been suggested that yields could be increased via improved orchard management, including pollination, and by planting high yielding compact cultivars.
Most commercial cultivars are hermaphroditic (producing flowers that are female with a small percentage of male flowers); cultivars that produce only functionally female flowers require the presence of male trees. Male trees are seldom found as vegetative selection has favored hermaphroditic clones that produce a high proportion of functionally female flowers and a much lower number of flowers that produce pollen
. There are over 3000 greenish-white flowers in male panicles, each with 5-7 anthers and a non-functional ovary. Male flowers have yellow nectaries and 5-7 stamens. There are about 500 greenish-yellow flowers in each hermaphroditic panicle. Each flower has six anthers, usually a bi-lobed stigma, and one ovule in each of its two sections (locules). The flowers are receptive for about one day but may persist if pollinators are excluded.
In Thailand the rambutan trees were first planted in Surat Thani
in 1926 by the Chinese Malay Mr. K. Vong in Ban Na San
. An annual rambutan fair is held during August harvest time.
In Malaysia, rambutan flowers from March to July and again between June and November, usually in response to rain following a dry period. Flowering periods differ for other localities. Most, but not all, flowers open early in the day. Up to 100 flowers in each female panicle may be open each day during peak bloom. Initial fruit set may approach 25% but a high level of abortion level contributes to a much lower level of production at harvest (1 to 3%). The fruit matures 15–18 weeks after flowering.
Rambutan cultivation in Sri Lanka mainly consists of small home gardens. Malwana
, a village located in the Kelani River
Valley, is popular for its rambutan orchards. Their production comes to market in the months of May, June and July, when it is very common to observe seasonal traders along the streets of Colombo
. Sri Lanka also has some off-season rambutan production in the months of January and February in areas like Bibile
, Medagama
and Monaragala.
Both male and female flowers are faintly sweet scented and have functional nectaries at the ovary
base. Female flowers produce 2-3 times more nectar than male flowers. Nectar sugar concentration ranges between 18-47% and is similar between the flower types. Rambutan is an important nectar source
for bees in Malaysia.
Cross-pollination is a necessity because anther is absent in most functionally female flowers. Although apomixis
may occur in some cultivars, research has shown that rambutan, like lychee, is dependent upon insects for pollination. In Malaysia, where only about one percent of the female flowers set fruit, research revealed that no fruit is set on bagged flowers while hand pollination resulted in 13 percent fruit set. These studies further suggest that pollinators may maintain a fidelity to either male or hermaphroditic flowers (trees), thus limiting pollination and fruit set under natural conditions where crossing between male and female flowers is required.
s developed from selected clones available throughout tropical Asia. Most of the cultivars are also selected for compact growth reaching a height of only 3-5 m for easier harvesting.
In Nicaragua, a joint World Relief/ European Union team distributed seedlings to organizations such as APAC (Ascociación Pueblos en Acción Comunitaria) in 2001 to more than 100 farmers. Some of these farmers saw the first production of rambutan from their trees in 2005-2006. The initiative is directed at the local market. However, it will be several years before growing practices and distribution are perfected. Other than seedling trees, the only known commercial cultivars in Nicaragua are R134, R162 and a Yellow Rambutan that lost its name when it was smuggled from Honduras in 2004-2005 (Frankie, J. A., Winrock International).
) and ants (Solenopsis) are the main pollinators. Among the Diptera, Lucilia sp. is abundant and among the Hymenoptera, honey bee
s (Apis dorsata
and A. cerana
) and the stingless bee
genus Trigona
spp. are the major visitors. Apis cerana
colonies foraging on rambutan flowers produce large quantities of honey
. Bees foraging for nectar routinely contact the stigmata of male flowers and gather significant quantities of the sticky pollen from male blossoms. Little pollen has been seen on bees foraging female flowers. Although male flowers open at 6 am, foraging by A. cerana is most intense between 7 am and 11 am, tapering off rather abruptly thereafter. In Thailand, A. cerana is the preferred species for small scale pollination of rambutan. Its hair is also helpful in pollination where pollen can be hooked on and transported to female flowers.
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 Sapindaceae
Sapindaceae
Sapindaceae, also known as the soapberry family, is a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales. There are about 140-150 genera with 1400-2000 species, including maple, horse chestnut and lychee....
, and the fruit of this tree. It is native to 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 –...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, Malaysia, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, although its precise natural distribution is unknown. It is closely related to several other edible tropical fruits including the lychee
Lychee
The lychee is the sole member of the genus Litchi in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae. It is a tropical and subtropical fruit tree native to Southern China and Southeast Asia, and now cultivated in many parts of the world...
, longan
Longan
Dimocarpus longan, commonly known as the longan, is a tropical tree native to South and Southeast Asia, in the Indomalaya ecozone known for its edible fruit.-Vernacular names:The fruit is known as longan or longyan in English...
, and mamoncillo
Mamoncillo
Melicoccus bijugatus, commonly called Spanish lime, genip, guinep, genipe, quenepa, mamoncillo, or honeyberry, is a fruit-bearing tree in the soapberry family Sapindaceae, native or naturalised over a wide area of the tropics, including South and Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and parts...
. It is believed to be native to the Malay Archipelago
Malay Archipelago
The Malay Archipelago refers to the archipelago between mainland Southeastern Asia and Australia. The name was derived from the anachronistic concept of a Malay race....
, from where it spread westwards to Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka and India; eastwards to Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia. The name rambutan is derived from the Malay
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
word rambutan, meaning "hairy". 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 –...
, it is called chôm chôm (meaning "messy hair") due to the spines covering the fruit's skin.
A second species regularly sold at Costa Rican markets is often known as "wild" rambutan. Yellow in color, it is a little smaller than the usual red variety. The flesh exposed when the outer skin is peeled off is sweet and sour, slightly grape-like and gummy to the taste. In Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
n Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, it is known as mamón chino (translated "Chinese
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...
sucker") due to its Asian origin and the likeness of the edible part with Melicoccus bijugatus.
Rambutan are non-climacteric
Climacteric (botany)
The climacteric is a stage of fruit ripening associated with ethylene production and cell respiration rise. Apples, bananas, melons, apricots, tomatoes are climacteric fruit. Citrus, grapes, strawberries are non-climacteric...
fruit - that is, they ripen only on the tree.
Description
It is an evergreenEvergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
tree growing to a height of 12–20 m. The leaves are alternate, 10–30 cm long, pinnate, with 3-11 leaflets, each leaflet 5–15 cm wide and 3-10 cm broad, with an entire margin. The flowers are small, 2.5–5 mm, apetalous, discoidal, and borne in erect terminal panicle
Panicle
A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches; in other words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes....
s 15–30 cm wide.
Rambutan trees are either male (producing only staminate flowers and, hence, produce no fruit), female (producing flowers that are only functionally female), or hermaphroditic (producing flowers that are female with a small percentage of male flowers).
The fruit is a round to oval 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...
3–6 cm (rarely to 8 cm) tall and 3-4 cm broad, borne in a loose pendant cluster of 10-20 together. The leathery skin is reddish (rarely orange or yellow), and covered with fleshy pliable spines, hence the name rambutan, derived from the Malay word rambut which means hairs. The fruit flesh is translucent, whitish or very pale pink, with a sweet, mildly acidic flavor.
The single seed is glossy brown, 1–1.3 cm, with a white basal scar. The seed is soft and crunchy. They are mildly poisonous when raw, but may be cooked and eaten.
Production
Orchard
An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive...
s. It is one of the best known fruits of Southeast Asia and is also widely cultivated elsewhere in the tropics including Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
islands, Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, 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...
, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Thailand is the largest producer from Surat Thani Province
Surat Thani Province
Surat Thani is the largest of the southern provinces of Thailand, on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand. Surat Thani means City of Good People, the title given to the city by King Vajiravudh ....
Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. Rambutan production is increasing in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and, in 1997, was one of the top three tropical fruits produced in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. It is also produced in Ecuador where it is known as "achotillo" and on the island of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
.
The fruit are usually sold fresh, used in making jams and jellies, or canned. Evergreen rambutan trees with their abundant coloured fruit make beautiful landscape specimens.
Quality
The best quality rambutan is generally that which is harvested still attached to the branch (pictured above). It is less susceptible to rot, damage, and pests, and remains fresh for a much longer time than rambutan that has been picked from the branch.Another indicator of quality is the ease of detachment of the flesh from the seed. An easily detachable flesh normally will have bits of the woody seed coating. Thus, it is a common Malay wisdom to not eat too much rambutan when one has a cough.
Cultivation and uses
Rambutan is adapted to warm tropical climates, around 22–30°, and is sensitive to temperatures below 10°C. It is grown commercially within 12–15° of the equator. The tree grows well on heights up to 500 metres (1,640.4 ft) above sea-level and does best in deep soil; clay loam or sandy loam rich in organic matter, and thrive on hilly terrain as they require good drainage. Rambutan is propagated by graftingGrafting
Grafting is a horticultural technique whereby tissues from one plant are inserted into those of another so that the two sets of vascular tissues may join together. This vascular joining is called inosculation...
, air-layering, and budding
Budding
Budding is a form of asexual reproduction in which a new organism grows on another one. The new organism remains attached as it grows, separating from the parent organism only when it is mature. Since the reproduction is asexual, the newly created organism is a clone and is genetically identical...
; the latter is most common as trees grown from seed often produce sour fruit. Budded trees may fruit after 2–3 years with optimum production occurring after 8–10 years. Trees grown from seed bear after 5–6 years.
Aril
An aril is any specialized outgrowth from the funiculus that covers or is attached to the seed. It is sometimes applied to any appendage or thickening of the seed coat in flowering plants, such as the edible parts of the mangosteen and pomegranate fruit, the mace of the nutmeg seed, or the...
is attached to the seed in some commercial cultivars, but "freestone" cultivators are available and in high demand. There is usually a single light brown seed which is high in certain fats and oils (primarily oleic acid
Oleic acid
Oleic acid is a monounsaturated omega-9 fatty acid found in various animal and vegetable fats. It has the formula CH37CH=CH7COOH. It is an odorless, colourless oil, although commercial samples may be yellowish. The trans isomer of oleic acid is called elaidic acid...
and arachidic acid
Arachidic acid
Arachidic acid, also called eicosanoic acid, is the saturated fatty acid with a 20 carbon chain. It is as a minor constituent of peanut oil and corn oil . Its name derives from the Latin arachis — peanut...
) valuable to industry, and used in cooking and the manufacture of soap
Soap
In chemistry, soap is a salt of a fatty acid.IUPAC. "" Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. . Compiled by A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford . XML on-line corrected version: created by M. Nic, J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN...
. Rambutan roots, bark, and leaves have various uses in medicine and in the production of dyes.
Rambutan trees bear fruit twice annually, once in late fall and early winter with a shorter season in late spring and early summer. The fragile nutritious fruit must ripen on the tree, then they are harvested over a four to seven week period. The fresh fruit are easily bruised and have a limited shelf life. An average tree may produce 5,000-6,000 or more fruit (60–70 kg or 130-155 lb per tree). Yields begin at 1.2 tonnes per hectare (0.5 tons/acre) in young orchards and may reach 20 tonnes per hectare (8 tons per acre) on mature trees. In Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, 24 of 38 cultivated hectares (60 of 95 acres) were harvested producing 120 tonnes of fruit in 1997. It has been suggested that yields could be increased via improved orchard management, including pollination, and by planting high yielding compact cultivars.
Most commercial cultivars are hermaphroditic (producing flowers that are female with a small percentage of male flowers); cultivars that produce only functionally female flowers require the presence of male trees. Male trees are seldom found as vegetative selection has favored hermaphroditic clones that produce a high proportion of functionally female flowers and a much lower number of flowers that produce pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
. There are over 3000 greenish-white flowers in male panicles, each with 5-7 anthers and a non-functional ovary. Male flowers have yellow nectaries and 5-7 stamens. There are about 500 greenish-yellow flowers in each hermaphroditic panicle. Each flower has six anthers, usually a bi-lobed stigma, and one ovule in each of its two sections (locules). The flowers are receptive for about one day but may persist if pollinators are excluded.
In Thailand the rambutan trees were first planted in Surat Thani
Surat Thani Province
Surat Thani is the largest of the southern provinces of Thailand, on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand. Surat Thani means City of Good People, the title given to the city by King Vajiravudh ....
in 1926 by the Chinese Malay Mr. K. Vong in Ban Na San
Amphoe Ban Na San
-Geography:Neighboring districts are Nopphitam and Phipun of Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, Wiang Sa, Khian Sa, Ban Na Doem, Mueang Surat Thani and Kanchanadit....
. An annual rambutan fair is held during August harvest time.
In Malaysia, rambutan flowers from March to July and again between June and November, usually in response to rain following a dry period. Flowering periods differ for other localities. Most, but not all, flowers open early in the day. Up to 100 flowers in each female panicle may be open each day during peak bloom. Initial fruit set may approach 25% but a high level of abortion level contributes to a much lower level of production at harvest (1 to 3%). The fruit matures 15–18 weeks after flowering.
Rambutan cultivation in Sri Lanka mainly consists of small home gardens. Malwana
Malwana
Malwana is a town of 35,000 inhabitants in the Western Province of Sri Lanka. It is situated on the banks of the Kelani River, 14 km north-west of Colombo. It is part of the Gampaha District and Biyagama electoral division...
, a village located in the Kelani River
Kelani River
The Kelani River is a river in Sri Lanka. Ranking as the fourth longest river in the country, it stretches from the Sri Pada Mountain Range to Colombo. It covers approximately 80% of the water supply to Colombo. In addition to that, the river is used for transport, fisheries, sewage disposal,...
Valley, is popular for its rambutan orchards. Their production comes to market in the months of May, June and July, when it is very common to observe seasonal traders along the streets of Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
. Sri Lanka also has some off-season rambutan production in the months of January and February in areas like Bibile
Bibile
Bibile is a town in Sri Lanka in the Bibile Divisional Secretariat, of Uva Province, Sri Lanka. Bibile's land is important to Sri Lankan agriculture. It was well known for oranges, though still oranges grown there the original variety 'Bibile Sweet is no longer in existence...
, Medagama
Medagama
Medagama is a village in Sri Lanka. It is located within Central Province.-External links:*...
and Monaragala.
Both male and female flowers are faintly sweet scented and have functional nectaries at the ovary
Ovary
The ovary is an ovum-producing reproductive organ, often found in pairs as part of the vertebrate female reproductive system. Ovaries in anatomically female individuals are analogous to testes in anatomically male individuals, in that they are both gonads and endocrine glands.-Human anatomy:Ovaries...
base. Female flowers produce 2-3 times more nectar than male flowers. Nectar sugar concentration ranges between 18-47% and is similar between the flower types. Rambutan is an important nectar source
Nectar source
A nectar source is a flowering plant that produces nectar as part of its reproductive strategy. These plants create nectar, which attract pollinating insects and sometimes other animals such as birds....
for bees in Malaysia.
Cross-pollination is a necessity because anther is absent in most functionally female flowers. Although apomixis
Apomixis
In botany, apomixis was defined by Winkler as replacement of the normal sexual reproduction by asexual reproduction, without fertilization. This definition notably does not mention meiosis...
may occur in some cultivars, research has shown that rambutan, like lychee, is dependent upon insects for pollination. In Malaysia, where only about one percent of the female flowers set fruit, research revealed that no fruit is set on bagged flowers while hand pollination resulted in 13 percent fruit set. These studies further suggest that pollinators may maintain a fidelity to either male or hermaphroditic flowers (trees), thus limiting pollination and fruit set under natural conditions where crossing between male and female flowers is required.
Cultivars
There are well over 200 cultivarCultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
s developed from selected clones available throughout tropical Asia. Most of the cultivars are also selected for compact growth reaching a height of only 3-5 m for easier harvesting.
In Nicaragua, a joint World Relief/ European Union team distributed seedlings to organizations such as APAC (Ascociación Pueblos en Acción Comunitaria) in 2001 to more than 100 farmers. Some of these farmers saw the first production of rambutan from their trees in 2005-2006. The initiative is directed at the local market. However, it will be several years before growing practices and distribution are perfected. Other than seedling trees, the only known commercial cultivars in Nicaragua are R134, R162 and a Yellow Rambutan that lost its name when it was smuggled from Honduras in 2004-2005 (Frankie, J. A., Winrock International).
Pollination
Aromatic rambutan flowers are highly attractive to many insects, especially bees. Flies (Diptera) and bees (HymenopteraHymenoptera
Hymenoptera is one of the largest orders of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees and ants. There are over 130,000 recognized species, with many more remaining to be described. The name refers to the heavy wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek ὑμήν : membrane and...
) and ants (Solenopsis) are the main pollinators. Among the Diptera, Lucilia sp. is abundant and among the Hymenoptera, honey bee
Honey bee
Honey bees are a subset of bees in the genus Apis, primarily distinguished by the production and storage of honey and the construction of perennial, colonial nests out of wax. Honey bees are the only extant members of the tribe Apini, all in the genus Apis...
s (Apis dorsata
Apis dorsata
Apis dorsata, the giant honey bee, is a honey bee of southern and southeastern Asia mainly in forested areas like the Terai of Nepal...
and A. cerana
Apis cerana
Apis cerana, or the Asiatic honey bee , is a species of honey bee found in southern and southeastern Asia, such as China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Bangladesh and Papua New Guinea. This species is the sister species of Apis koschevnikovi, and both are in the same subgenus as the Western honey...
) and the stingless bee
Stingless bee
Stingless bees, sometimes called stingless honey bees or simply meliponines, are a large group of bees, comprising the tribe Meliponini . They belong in the family Apidae, and are closely related to common honey bees, carpenter bees, orchid bees and bumblebees...
genus Trigona
Trigona (genus)
Trigona is the largest genus of stingless bees, formerly including many more subgenera than the present assemblage; many of these former subgenera have been elevated to generic status. There are approximately 150 species presently included in the genus, in 11 subgenera...
spp. are the major visitors. Apis cerana
Apis cerana
Apis cerana, or the Asiatic honey bee , is a species of honey bee found in southern and southeastern Asia, such as China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Bangladesh and Papua New Guinea. This species is the sister species of Apis koschevnikovi, and both are in the same subgenus as the Western honey...
colonies foraging on rambutan flowers produce large quantities of honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
. Bees foraging for nectar routinely contact the stigmata of male flowers and gather significant quantities of the sticky pollen from male blossoms. Little pollen has been seen on bees foraging female flowers. Although male flowers open at 6 am, foraging by A. cerana is most intense between 7 am and 11 am, tapering off rather abruptly thereafter. In Thailand, A. cerana is the preferred species for small scale pollination of rambutan. Its hair is also helpful in pollination where pollen can be hooked on and transported to female flowers.
See also
- AckeeAckeeThe ackee, also known as the vegetable brain, achee, akee apple or akee is a member of the Sapindaceae , native to tropical West Africa in Cameroon, Gabon, São Tomé and Príncipe, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.It is...
- KorlanKorlanThe Korlan is a tree in the family Sapindaceae and the fruit of this tree. It is closely related to several other tropical fruits including the lychee, longan, rambutan, and mamoncillo....
- LonganLonganDimocarpus longan, commonly known as the longan, is a tropical tree native to South and Southeast Asia, in the Indomalaya ecozone known for its edible fruit.-Vernacular names:The fruit is known as longan or longyan in English...
- LycheeLycheeThe lychee is the sole member of the genus Litchi in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae. It is a tropical and subtropical fruit tree native to Southern China and Southeast Asia, and now cultivated in many parts of the world...
- MamoncilloMamoncilloMelicoccus bijugatus, commonly called Spanish lime, genip, guinep, genipe, quenepa, mamoncillo, or honeyberry, is a fruit-bearing tree in the soapberry family Sapindaceae, native or naturalised over a wide area of the tropics, including South and Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and parts...
- PulasanPulasanThe pulasan, Nephelium mutabile Blume , is a tropical fruit closely allied to the rambutan and sometimes confused with it...
, a very similar fruit native to Peninsular Malaysia