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''Dillenia indica'', commonly known as elephant apple or Ou Tenga, is a species of '' Dillenia'' native to China and tropical Asia.
''Dillenia indica''
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Description
It is an evergreen largeshrub
A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...
or small to medium-sized tree growing to 15 m tall. The leaves
A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...
are 15–36 cm long, with a conspicuously corrugated surface with impressed veins. Its branches are used to make good firewood. The flowers are large, 15–20 cm diameter, with five white petals and numerous yellow stamens. Its characteristic round fruits are large, greenish yellow, have many seeds and are edible. The fruit is a 5–12 cm diameter aggregate of 15 carpels, each carpel containing five seeds embedded in an edible but fibrous pulp.Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan .Flora of Pakistan''Dillenia indica''
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Taxonomy
''Dillenia indica'' was one of the many species first described by Linnaeus in the10th edition
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
of his ''Systema Naturae
' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomen ...
'' in 1759.
Ecology
''Dillenia indica'' produces a large hard edible fruit which is accessible only to the megaherbivores in the wild. A study in the Buxa Tiger Reserve by ecologists Sekar & Sukumar has shown that Asian elephants appear to have a particular fondness for the fruits of ''D. indica'', and are hence an important seed disperser for this tree. With the prospect of extinction of the elephants this tree has developed a back-up system, whereby its hard fruits that were only accessible to megaherbivores, slowly soften on the forest floor through the dry season to allow access to successively smaller animals such asmacaque
The macaques () constitute a genus (''Macaca'') of gregarious Old World monkeys of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. The 23 species of macaques inhabit ranges throughout Asia, North Africa, and (in one instance) Gibraltar. Macaques are principally ...
s, rodents
Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are nat ...
and squirrels. Seeds from both old and soft fruits are able to germinate well, enabling the persistence of this tree to be independent of the survival of its major megaherbivore disperser.
Uses
The fruit pulp is sour and used in Indian cuisine in curries, jam (ouu khatta
''Ou Khatta'' () is a sweet and sour chutney or marmalade made of ''ou'' (elephant apple; ''Dillenia indica'') in jaggery, in the Indian state of Odisha, mostly in post- monsoon season. Sometimes ''ou'' is added to ''dal'' or '' dalma''. It is ...
), and jellies.
Because it is a main source of food for elephants, monkeys and deer, collection of fruit from the core areas of the forest is prohibited. Commercial sale of the fruit is also prohibited, in an effort to help keep the food-chain system of the forest from dismantling totally.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q48334 indica Trees of China Flora of tropical Asia Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus