Dimocarpus longan var. longan
Content
Description
Leaves (2-)4- or 5-jugate;
Inflorescences 8-12 cm long, much branched;
Sepals inside completely puberulous.
Petals up to 3 by 1.5 mm, mostly subglabrous outside, sparsely hairy inside.
Fruits:
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: Jawa (Jawa); Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia present); New Guinea, Continental S and SE Asia present, Luzon, N Borneo
Continental S and SE Asia and Malesia: probably indigenous only in the Malay Peninsula, naturalized in some places in N Borneo, Java, Luzon, and New Guinea.
Uses
Mainly in continental SE Asia, much less and mainly by the Chinese in Malesia, planted as a fruit tree (in Malesia the fruits were — are still? — often imported from China). The wood is rarely used but seems to provide a good construction timber, because of its fine polish also esteemed for furniture. The seeds contain saponin and are sometimes used as a soap substitute. See further:
Notes
The few, scattered naturalized populations in Malesia are each very uniform and mutually mostly distinctly different. This depends doubtlessly on the source of origin of the material. The material from Java, cultivated as well as naturalized, and the single collection known naturalized from Borneo agree well with material from S China. Collections from E New Guinea are in good agreement with material from Hainan. The few collections from W New Guinea are all from the Vogelkop Peninsula and have no really good match among Asian material, although they come nearest to the form from Taiwan.