''Muntingia'' is a genus of plants in the family Muntingiaceae, comprising only one species, ''Muntingia calabura'', and was named in honour of Abraham Munting. It is native to the

neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biog ...

, from Mexico south to Bolivia, with edible fruit, and has been widely introduced in other tropical areas.

Description

''Muntingia calabura'' is a shrub or tree up to 12 m tall with spreading branches. The

leaves A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...

are alternate,

distichous In botany, phyllotaxis () or phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem. Phyllotactic spirals form a distinctive class of patterns in nature. Leaf arrangement The basic arrangements of leaves on a stem are opposite and alternat ...

oblong An oblong is a non-square rectangle. Oblong may also refer to: Places * Oblong, Illinois, a village in the United States * Oblong Township, Crawford County, Illinois, United States * A strip of land on the New York-Connecticut border in the Un ...

or lanceolate, 4–15 cm long and 1–6 cm wide, with toothed margin and covered in short hairs. The flowers are small (up to 3 cm wide), solitary or in inflorescences of two or three flowers, with five lanceolate sepals, hairy, five obovate white petals, many stamens with yellow anthers, and a smooth ovoid ovary. Fruit, an edible berry, is red at maturity, about 1.5 cm wide.

Distribution and habitat

''M. calabura'' is native to southern Mexico, the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean S ...

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. C ...

, and western South America south to

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. It is present in tropical climate in disturbed lowland areas from sea level to 1000 m of elevation. In South India, it is seen in the areas adjacent to the Western Ghat.

Ecology

This species colonizes disturbed habitats in tropical lowland areas, becoming part of the secondary vegetation, as well as gallery forests. It thrives in poor soil, able to tolerate acidic and alkaline conditions and drought, but doesn't grow in saline conditions. The seeds are dispersed by birds and fruit bats. Although native to tropical America, ''M. calabura'' has been introduced in Southeast Asia and naturalized there and in other tropical parts of the world.

Vernacular names

Common names include: * English: cotton candy berry, calabur tree, capulin, festival berry, Jamaica cherry, Panama berry, strawberry tree, ornamental cherry, jamfruit tree, Singapore cherry, West Indian cherry * Swahili: Mti kivuli * Filipino: * Cebuano: *

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

: ( Colombia), ( Peru) ( Ecuador) * French: *

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

: ( Brazil) * Swedish: * Tamil: * Sinhala: ' (jamfruit tree) * Kapampangan: * Kannada: * India (language not specified): (wild cherry); ''Company Pazham'' (Palakkad Walayar area) *

Iloko Ilocano (also Ilokano; ; Ilocano: ) is an Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines, primarily by Ilocano people and as a lingua franca by the Igorot people and also by the native settlers of Cagayan Valley. It is the Languages of the Phi ...

: * Tagalog: *

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

: * Malay: '' * Khmer: * Thai: (ตะขบฝรั่ง) * Vietnamese: (fish roe fruit) *

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

Uses

''M. calabura'' is planted as a source of timber and fuel. Its soft wood used for rural construction, while the bark is fibrous and used for making ropes. The fruits are edible and in some cases sold in markets, as they can be eaten raw or processed as jam; leaves can be used for making tea. Also, traditional medicinal uses have been reported for the leaves (headaches, prostate problems, reduce gastric ulcers), bark (antiseptic), flowers (antiseptic, reduce swelling, antispasmodic), and fruits (respiratory problems; antidiarrheic). It is said to help diabetic patients. A small reduction was recorded in patients' blood sugar levels after consumption . It is planted as an ornamental species, for shade, and also because the flowers are a source of nectar and pollen for the beekeeping industry. The tree is also planted along river banks in Brazil, as fallen fruits attract fish. ''M. calabura'' has a potential as a useful species for restoration of disturbed areas and stopping soil erosion. It also offers shelter for wildlife, as it is a source of food for about 60 species of birds and mammals.

Cultivation

''M. calabura'' can be propagated from seed, seedlings, or cuttings. In Costa Rica, seeds set in the wet season, but require conditions of light and temperature found in forest gaps. In a test where seeds were placed in wet paper towel at 25 °C, a total of 44% of seeds germinated in white light, while none germinated in dark conditions.

Cultural references

Sri Lankan author

Carl Muller Kala Keerthi Carl Muller (22 October 1935 – 2 December 2019) was an award-winning Sri Lankan writer, poet and journalist best known for his trilogy about Burghers in Sri Lanka: ''The Jam Fruit Tree'', ''Yakada Yaka'' and ''Once Upon A ...

chose this tree as the title for his first novel, ''The Jam Fruit Tree.'' In the novel, the tree represents the Burgher community of Sri Lanka, "a race of fun-loving, hardy people, much like the jam fruit tree which simply refuses to be contained or destroyed." The book won the Gratiaen Prize for the best published work in the English language in 1993.

References

External links

USDA Plants Profile: ''Muntingia calabura''Claude Lévi-Strauss: The use of wild plants in tropical South America
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q10333250, from2=Q1915507 Monotypic Malvales genera Muntingiaceae Trees of Mexico Trees of South America