''Bouea macrophylla'', commonly known as gandaria or plum mango or mango plum in English, is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

native to

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

. The tree belongs to the 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 ...

which also includes mango and cashew.

Description

The

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

tree grows to heights of 25 meters. Its leaves are lanceolate to elliptic in shape (see:

Leaf shape The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are coll ...

), and range from 13 to 45 cm (5 to 17 inches) long and from 5 to 7 cm (2 to 3 inches) wide. The fruit (resembling a mango) are green in colour and mature to an orange/yellow, with the seed being pink. They grow to roughly 2 to 5 cm (0.7 to 1.9 inches) in

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid fo ...

. The entire fruit, including its skin is edible. The fruit range from sweet to sour in flavor similar to the Alphonso mango, and have a light smell of

turpentine Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthene, terebinthine and (colloquially) turps) is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Mainly used as a spec ...

. When ripe, the fruit is soft and has fibrous mango-like seeds. Flowering and fruiting times differ for

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

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 ...

. *Thailand : flowers in November to December, and fruit appears from April to May. *Indonesia : flowers in June to November, and fruit appears from March to June.

Distribution

The tree is native to

, and

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 ...

. It is also found in

, Laos, and

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 ...

, where it is commercially grown.

Uses

Consumption

Both the leaves and fruit from the tree can be eaten. The leaves can be eaten raw when they are still young, and can be used in

salad A salad is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient. They are typically served at room temperature or chilled, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a va ...

s. While the seed is edible, the endosperm is generally bitter. The fruit is very acidic and has a mango-like flavour. It can be eaten raw, or made into dishes such as pickle,

compote Compote or compôte (French for ''mixture'') is a dessert originating from medieval Europe, made of whole or pieces of fruit in sugar syrup. Whole fruits are cooked in water with sugar and spices. The syrup may be seasoned with vanilla, lemo ...

, or

sambal Sambal is an Indonesian chilli sauce or paste, typically made from a mixture of a variety of chilli peppers with secondary ingredients, such as shrimp paste, garlic, ginger, shallot, scallion, palm sugar, and lime juice. ''Sambal'' is an ...

. Unripened fruit can be used to make

rojak Rujak (Indonesian language, Indonesian spelling) or Rojak (Malay language, Malay spelling) is a salad dish of Javanese cuisine, Javanese origin, commonly found in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The most popular variant in all three countries ...

and

asinan ''Asinan'' is a pickled (through brined or vinegared) vegetable or fruit dish, commonly found in Indonesia. ''Asin'', Indonesian for "salty", is the process of preserving the ingredients by soaking them in a solution of salty water. ''Asinan' ...

Functional

The entire tree can be used as an ornamental fruit bearing

shade tree A shade tree is a large tree whose primary role is to provide shade in the surrounding environment due to its spreading canopy and crown, where it may give shelter from sunlight in the heat of the summer for people who seek recreational needs i ...

due to its dense foliage.

Other names

''Bouea macrophylla'' is commonly known in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

as the "marian plum", "gandaria", "plum mango" and "mango plum". In Malay, the tree is known as ''kundang'' in Malay and its fruit ''buah kundang''. The Malays differentiate between two varieties: * ''Kundang daun kecil'' ("small-leaf ''kundang''") also known as ''remia, remnia'' or ''rumenia''. * ''Kundang daun besar'' ("large-leaf ''kundang''"), also known as ''kundang hutan'' ("jungle ''kundang'') or ''setar''. This usually refers to '' Bouea oppositifolia'', and is the origin of the

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

Alor Setar (with ''alor'' meaning "small stream"). In Indonesian, it is known as ''ramania'' and ''gandaria''. It is also known in Thai as ''maprang'' (มะปราง), ''mayong'' (มะยง) and ''mayong chit'' (มะยงชิด). In Burmese as ''mayan-thi'' (မရန်းသီး); and in

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

as ''thanh trà''. In 2015 a major retailer introduced the fruit to the British public under the name ''plango'', apparently a

portmanteau word A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsPlango press announcement
/ref> which is not botanically plausible as plums and mangoes are not in the same family.

References

Sources

''Bouea macrophylla'' taxonomy
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Mansfeld database
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AgroForestryTree Database
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1493371 macrophylla Fruits originating in Asia