Food Plants International - Plant Fact Sheets Durio zibethinus - Durian

Edible Portion: Fruit, Seeds, Leaves

A large evergreen tree up to 30-50 m high and with buttresses. The bark is dark red-brown and rough and peels off irregularly. The leaves are alternate and oval. They are about 10 to 15 cm long and 3 to 5 cm wide. The upper surface is smooth and shiny and the midrib is sunken. The lower surface is covered with silver scales. The flowers are on the older branches and form bunches of flowers where the lower flower stalks are longer. They have 3 to 30 flowers on a main stalk up to 5 cm long. The fruit are green to yellow, fat and up to 25 cm long by 20 cm wide. They have sharp spines over the surface. The seeds are completely covered with a yellowish soft very sweet seed covering. The fruit drop unopened. As the fruit ripens it splits open naturally into 3-5 sections which have large seeds embedded in a yellow coloured pulp. The seeds are oval and 4-5 cm long by 2.5-3.5 cm wide.