Food Plants International - Plant Fact Sheets Lansium parasiticum

Edible : Fruit

An upright slender tree to 12-20 m high. It has sticky sap. The leaves are alternate and simple. Leaves are up to 40 cm long and made up of 5-7 large leaflets. The flowers are yellow in spikes from old wood mostly on the branches. The flowers have 5 petals which join to form a tube. The flowers have a sweet smell. The fruit is 3-5 cm across and divided into 5 segments with 1-2 large seeds. The fruit is borne in long drooping clusters. There can be 25 fruit in a cluster. The fruit is pale yellow when ripe. It develops a brown scurf on the surface as it ripens. The seeds are green and bitter and are not eaten. Langsats have thin skin, milky juice and are oval and 3.7 cm across. Dukus have thick skin, are round, do not have milky juice and are 5 cm across. They are also sweeter than Langsat.

Distribution : A tropical plant. It suits the hot, wet tropical lowlands. It is native to Malaysia. It occurs in coastal areas and probably up to 700 m altitude in the tropics. A rich deep well drained soil is needed. It suits humid places and is not suited to places with a distinct dry season. It cannot tolerate drought. It can grow with an annual rainfall of less than 1,500 mm. It does well in part shade. It can tolerate lower temperature, rainfall and humidity than rambutan. A temperature between 25°-30°C is best. It grows between 17°N - 17°S. A pH between 5.0-6.0 is best.