''Mangifera caesia'' is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

in the cashew family,

Anacardiaceae The Anacardiaceae, commonly known as the cashew family or sumac family, are a family of flowering plants, including about 83 genera with about 860 known species. Members of the Anacardiaceae bear fruits that are drupes and in some cases produce ...

. Known in English as jack or white mango, among other names. It belongs to the same genus as the mango and is widely cultivated in areas of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. It was featured in Malaysian stamp, printed in 1999 as a

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the ...

in the rare fruits series.

Names

''M. caesia'' is locally known as binjai (

Malay language Malay (; ms, Bahasa Melayu, links=no, Jawi: , Rencong: ) is an Austronesian language that is an official language of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and that is also spoken in East Timor and parts of the Philippines ...

), wani ( Balinese language/ Dusun language), yaa-lam ( Thai language), bayuno/baluno/belunok (

Filipino language Filipino (; , ) is an Austronesian language. It is the national language ( / ) of the Philippines, and one of the two official languages of the country, with English. It is a standardized variety of Tagalog based on the native dialect, sp ...

), mangga wani (

Cebuano language Cebuano (Cebuano
on Merriam-Webster.com ), natively called by its generic term Bisaya or Binisaya (bot ...

Sabah Sabah () is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory ...

language), and gwani ( Subanen language).

Description

These are restricted to wet lowlands at below 450m. It requires rainfall and is rarely in found forests but rather abundant in marshes and riverside areas. Grows up to tall with a dense crown of round-shaped leaves. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...

s are purple or pink, 0.7 cm long with five

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined ...

s. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

is a large, edible, elliptical drupe long and wide. The skin is thin and brown with darker patches, and the flesh is yellow-white, mushy, and strongly odorous with an acid-sweet or sour taste. The binjai is believed to originate from the island of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java Isl ...

, but is commonly grown elsewhere for its edible fruit. The tree is one of the most common and valuable ''Mangifera'' species in western Malaysia, where it is cultivated extensively in orchards. It is also widely grown in

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

, Sumatra, and

Reproduction

This tree produces thousand of fruits, ripening three months after anthesis. The fruit matures during the rainy season, this is a

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, a ...

, stands erect and bare before shedding large bud scales that envelops twigs and inflorescence.

Propagation method

It is propagated from seeds or through marcotting. Grafting on the seedling stock is also possible through inarching potted rootstocks onto twigs of mother trees. The mature tree requires abundant space, about 12m to 16m in either direction.

Used in dishes

The fruit of the ''M. caesia'' can be served fresh, preserved or cooked. They can be eaten dipped in

chili Chili or chilli may refer to: Food * Chili pepper, the spicy fruit of plants in the genus ''Capsicum''; sometimes spelled "chilli" in the UK and "chile" in the southwestern US * Chili powder, the dried, pulverized fruit of one or more varieties ...

and dark soy sauce. In Bali, it is used as an ingredient for local creamy juices, also for making spice base for chillies sambal which is eaten with river fish. it can also be used in making pickles. The wood is used for light construction. In Brunei, where it is called , the fruit is used to make a variety of or dipping sauce for ambuyat, a sago dish considered to be the country's national dish.

Nutritional value

Nutritional value of binjai fruit per 100 grams: *Water 86.5g, *

Protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respon ...

1g, * Fats 0.2g, * Carbohydrates including fibers 11.9g, * Ash 0.4g, * Thiamine 0.08 mg, * Beta-carotene 0.005 mg and * Vitamin C 58 mg. *Total

Energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...

200kJ/100g.

As irritant

The sap of ''M. caesia'' can cause skin eruptions or dermatitis. It unripe fruits' sap can also cause irritation.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q4499976 caesia Tropical fruit Least concern plants