Description

Pulasan, is a tropical fruit in the soapberry family Sapindaceae. It is closely related to the rambuttan and sometimes confused with it. Other related soapberry family fruits include lychee and longan. Usually eaten fresh, it is sweeter than the rambutan and lychee, but very rare outside Southeast Asia.

Characteristics:

The pulasan tree is an ornamental. It attains a height of 10–15 m and has a short trunk to 30–40 cm thick. The branchlets are brown and hairy when young. The alternate leaves, pinnate or odd-pinnate, are 17–45 cm long, have 2 to 5 pairs of opposite or nearly opposite leaflets, are oblong or elliptic-lanceolate, 6.25-17.5 cm long and up to 5 cm wide; slightly wavy, dark-green and barely glossy on the upper surface; pale, and somewhat bluish, with a few short, silky hairs on the underside. Very small, greenish, petalless flowers with 4-5 hairy sepals are borne singly or in clusters on the branches of the erect, axillary or terminal, panicles clothed with fine yellowish or brownish hairs. The pulasan is ultra-tropical and thrives only in very humid regions between 360 and 1,150 ft (110–350 m) of altitude. In Malaya, it is said that the tree bears best after a long, dry season. The fruit is ovoid, 5-7.5 cm long, dark red, with its thick, leathery rind closely set with conical, blunt-tipped tubercles or thick, fleshy, straight spines, which are up to 1 cm long. There may be one or two small, undeveloped fruits nestled close to the stem. Within is the glistening, white or yellowish-white flesh (aril) to 1 cm thick, more or less clinging to the thin, grayish-brown seedcoat (testa) which separates from the seed. The flavour is generally much sweeter than that of the rambuttan. The seed is ovoid, oblong or ellipsoid, light brown, somewhat flattened on one side, and 2 to 3.5 cm long.

Medicinal Uses:

The roots are used to treat fever. Fruit - raw or cooked. The delicious white flesh of the fruit is less juicy than the rambutan (N. lappaceum), is sweeter and has a less sprightly taste. Much eaten out of hand, it can also be used in jams and compotes. The fruit ranges in size from 40 to 70 mm long and 40 to 60 mm in diameter