Food Plants International - Plant Fact Sheets

Momordica cochinchinensis - Gac

Edible Portion: Leaves, Vegetable, Fruit, Spice

A pumpkin family plant. It is a coarse vine up to 15 m long. It keeps growing from year to year. It has tuberous roots. It climbs by means of tendrils. It is slightly hairy. The leaves are 8 to 18 cm long, and 8-20 cm across and deeply 3 lobed and the base is heart shaped. Leaves are bright green. The leaf stalks are 2-10 cm long. Male and female flowers are separate on the same plant. Male flowers are 3.5 cm across on stalks 5-30 cm long. The petals are pale yellow. The female flowers are smaller. The fruit are egg shaped, yellow and roughened with small bumps scattered over it. They are edible. The flesh is orange-red. The seeds are blackish-brown.

Dimocarpus longan - Longan

Edible portion: Fruit, Leaves - Tea, Seeds

A tree up to 12-40 m high with a low trunk and spreading branches. The tree has a rounded crown. It keeps its leaves throughout the year. The trunk can be 80 cm across. There can be buttresses 2 m tall. The bark is corky. The twigs have 5 faint grooves. The leaves are 3-45 cm long by 1.8-20 cm wide. The leaves have petioles and six to nine leaflets. Leaflets are up to 12 cm long. Young leaflets are often red before turning green. The flowers occur in upright clusters. These are 8-40 cm long. They are produced on new growth. The flowers are small and reddish-brown. A progression of male, female and hermaphrodite flowers occur. Flowers are pollinated by insects. The fruit is similar to a litchi and about 2.5 cm across. They are yellow-brown when mature and with a pebbly surface. They occur in clusters of 10 to 80. The flesh or aril is white and sweet. The seed is small, round and brownish-black. There are several named cultivated varieties.

Artocarpus heterophyllus

Edible Portion: Fruit, Seeds, Leaves, Flowers, Vegetable

An evergreen tree up to 20 m tall and in the breadfruit family. Trees form many branches but have one or two main trunks. The bark is smooth and dark green. Leaves of young trees have 1 or 2 lobes but mature leaves are long (15 cm) and entire. They are leathery, deep green and glossy. Flowers occur on spikes, on stalks from the trunk or main branches. Some stalks only have male flowers, others only have female flowers while some have both male and female spikes. Generally male flowers are on short stalks among the leaves, and female flowers are on trunks. Male flowers are 5 cm long by 2 cm wide and are dull green. Female flowers are bright green. The very large spiny fruit grow on main branches and the trunk. The fruit is a composite fruit made up from the many individual flowers of the flower cluster. Fruit can be 1 m long and weigh 36 kg. They have 6 sided fleshy spines. Each seed is surrounded by a yellow fleshy sheath. Seed are 2-4 cm long and 1-2 cm wide. There can be 100-500 seed in a fruit. Unlike breadfruit, there are no seedless Jackfruit. When ripe the unopened fruit has a strong smell.

Common names : Jackfruit, Ampalibe, Banun, Bu luo mi, Cempedak hutan, Ekifenensi, Fene, Herali, Jaca-dura, Jaca-mole, Jaca, Jacquier, Jak, Jakobo, Jangphong, Jaquero, Kaathal, Kadal, Kaihal, Kanoon, Kanthal, Katahal, Katahar, Kathal ke beej, Kathal, Katthar, Khanum, Khanun, Khatal, Khnaor, Kifenensi, Kos, Kothal, Kulu jaka, Lamasa, Lamkhong, Lamkhuang, Langka, Long di biu, Ma mi, Mak lang, Makmi, Malasa, Ma mi, Mfenesi mfuu, Mfenesi, Mfenesi, Mi duo luo, Miiz hnang, Miiz, Mit, Moe ulu initia, Mung-dung, Murasabalam, Nangka, Ndung, Nongko, Pala, Pana, Panasa chettu, Pandicho, Panwe, Peignai, Peinne, Phanas, Pilaka, Pilapalam, Plavu, Podushi, Pohon nangka, Polos, Rima, Sakkeyo, Tak bela, Te mai rekereke, Thaiphlung, Thaipung, Theibong, Tshackka, Tsjaka, Uto ni idia, Varaka, Yaca, Yakobo,

Synonyms :

Artocarpus brasiliensis Gomez;
Artocarpus heterophylla Lam.;
Artocarpus integer auct.;
Artocarpus integra Merr.;
Artocarpus integrifolius auct. non L.f.;
Artocarpus philippensis Lamarck;
Artocarpus maxima Blanco;
Polyphema jaca Lour.;
Saccus arboreus major Rumph.;

Artocarpus altilis - Breadfruit

Edible Portion:  Fruit, Seeds, Leaves, Flowers, Vegetable

A large tree up to 20-26 m in height. The trunk can be 6 m tall before branching. The trunk can be up to 1 m across. It is an evergreen tree but can lose its leaves in dry weather. The leaves are large and vary in the amount the leaves are divided. They can be entire or divided into 5 to 11 lobes. The leaves are bright green on the upper surface with yellow veins and are pale and dull on the under surface. They have very small stiff hairs underneath. Male and female flowers occur on the same tree. The male flowers are cylindrical spikes which droop and are 12-30 cm long. The female flowers are grouped in a round head. The flower head develops into the compound fruit. The fruit are large and green. They can be 20 cm across. Seeded kinds have spines, and seedless kinds have a more smooth surface. Seeded, small seeded, and non seeded types occur. There are a number of cultivars of each. Seed can be 2 cm across and with darker lines.

Acrocomia aculeata - Gru-Gru Palm

Edible Portion: Kernels, Sap, Fruit, Nuts, Seeds, Cabbage, Young Leaves, Palm Heart, Oil,

A single stemmed palm. It is spiny on the trunk. It grows 12 m tall. The trunk is stout and grey. It is 30 cm across. The leaves are feather like. They are 1-2 m long. The fronds are dark green but paler underneath due to whitish hairs. They have spines. The flowering stalk is about 1.5 m long. The bract is woolly and forms a sheath. The flowers are yellow. Single plants can produce fertile seed. The fruit are round and 5 cm across. They are greenish yellow. The flesh is thin and firm. It is orange. The skin splits when fully ripe.

Agave americana - Agave

Edible Portion: Flower Stalk, Seeds, Shoots, Drink, Sap, Pith, Vegetable

A perennial plant up to 7.5 m tall and 2.5 m wide. It does not have a trunk and has suckers. The plants have a very sharp and tough spine at the tip of each leaf. The leaves are grey-green and occur in rings at the base. There are spines on the edges of the leaves. There are 5-8 mm long and 2-6 cm apart. The leaves are word shaped and 1-2 m long. The flowers are tubular and yellow-green. These occur on stems 6 m high.

Ananas comosus - Pineapple

Edible Portion: Fruit, Shoots, Vegetable

A perennial herb with a rosette of long, thick, spiky leaves up to 1 m high & spreading 1-1.5 m. The leaves are arranged in spirals. Some kinds have thorns along the edges of the leaves. The plant produces suckers both near the base of the stem and also higher up the stem near the fruit. These are called slips and these, and the suckers, are broken off and used for planting. The main plant dies after producing a fruit but the suckers keep growing. The plant produces a flower and fruit at the end. The fruit is made up of about 150 berry-like fruitlets that are almost fused together. There is a small crown of leaves on top of the fruit. The fruit can be 25 cm long and weigh 0.5-4 kg. The two main kinds of pineapples are the rough leafed variety which has spines on the leaves and produces a smaller but sweeter fruit. The other kind is the smooth leaf kind with spineless leaves and larger fruit. There are several cultivated varieties.

Annona muricata - Soursop

Edible Portion: Fruit, Leaves, Vegetable

It is a low bushy tree 8-10 m high. The leaves are long (14 cm) and narrow (4 cm). The leaves are thick and slightly shiny on top. The flowers are large (2-3 cm), rounded and produced on short stems on the branches. They occur singly, or in groups of three. The flowers have two layers of thick fleshy petals. The fruit are 10-30 cm long. The fruit is spiny and the flesh is juicy. Many black seeds are embedded in the white flesh. Fruit are often distorted due to only some of the ovules being fertilised. Beetles are normally thought to do the pollinating. This means fruit end up heart shaped when unevenly pollinated. The flesh of the fruit is white. Several kinds with different sweetness, shape and juiciness occur.

Annona reticulata - Bullocks Heart

Edible Portion: Fruit

A small tree up to 7.5 m tall. It has several branches near the base. Trees loose their leaves at some times of the year. New shoots have short brown hairs but older wood is smooth and shiny. The leaves are long and spear shaped with short leaf stalks. Around the edge of the leaf is a clear edge. The leaves smell when crushed. Flowers are greenish yellow. They occur in groups where the leaves join the stalk. Flowers occur on new wood growth. The fruit are reddish brown in colour and 10-12 cm across.There is a fine hexagonal pattern over the fruit. Inside there are large brown seeds. The fruit are edible but the seeds are not eaten.

Annona squamosa - Sweetsop

Edible Portion: Fruit

A bushy deciduous tree up to 6 m high. It has irregular spreading branches. The leaves are oblong and narrow, often 12 cm long by 4 cm wide. The leaves have fine hairs underneath. The leaves are dull green and smell when crushed. The flowers droop or hang from branches either singly or in groups of 2 or 3. The flowers are greenish colour. The fruit are 8-10 cm across and greenish in colour. The fruit is covered with round fleshy scales which drop off as the fruit ripens. Inside the fruit are several shiny black seeds about 1.5 cm long. The fruit flesh is white and soft.