''Sterculia monosperma'' (; th, เกาลัดไทย), also known as Chinese chestnut, Thai chestnut, seven sisters' fruit, and phoenix eye fruit, 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, ...

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

nut Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut or Nuts may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Co ...

-bearing tree of genus ''

Sterculia ''Sterculia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae: subfamily Sterculioideae (previously placed in the now obsolete Sterculiaceae). Members of the genus are colloquially known as tropical chestnuts. ''Sterculia'' ma ...

''.

Distribution

Its origin is Southern China (

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

, Guangxi and

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

) and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, but it is now a common cultivated tree in

Northern Thailand Northern Thailand, or more specifically Lanna, is geographically characterised by several mountain ranges, which continue from the Shan Hills in bordering Myanmar to Laos, and the river valleys which cut through them. Though like most of Thailan ...

, Northern

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, mountainous areas of

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 ...

and

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 ...

, as well as Northern Laos and

Shan State Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a state of Myanmar. Shan State borders China (Yunnan) to the north, Laos ( ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

Human uses

The ripe nuts are edible. They may be eaten plain, roasted, boiled with water and salt or also may be used to prepare dishes, such as sauteed with chicken.Sterculia Monosperma tree
/ref> In China these nuts are one of the traditional foods of the

Qixi Festival The Qixi Festival ( zh, 七夕), also known as the Qiqiao Festival ( zh, 七巧, links=no), is a Chinese festival celebrating the annual meeting of Zhinü and Niulang in Chinese mythology... The festival is celebrated on the seventh day of the ...

, the 'night of the seven', also known as the 'anniversary of the seventh sister' (七姐誕). Qixi is celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh

lunar month In lunar calendars, a lunar month is the time between two successive syzygies of the same type: new moons or full moons. The precise definition varies, especially for the beginning of the month. Variations In Shona, Middle Eastern, and Eur ...

which falls on 20 Aug 2015 and on 9 Aug 2016 next year. The pods containing the nuts have a striking red color when ripe and the nuts are much darker —their husk or pericarpus is almost black— and smaller than the common chestnuts of genus '' Castanea''. The pellicle is brown and smooth and the fruit is yellowish in color.

Gallery

File:Sterculia monosperma277.JPG, Steamed nuts File:蘋婆Sterculia monosperma 20210428211335 01.jpg, Flower, macro photography. File:蘋婆Sterculia monosperma 20210428211335 07.jpg, Inflorescence. File:蘋婆Sterculia monosperma 20210428211335 13.jpg, Flowers in full bloom.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4923879 monosperma Trees of China Trees of Thailand Flora of Myanmar Flora of Laos