Jambu
Syzygium samarangense also known as Java Apple, Java Rose apple is a plant species in the family Myrtaceae. The plant is native to Bangladesh to the Solomon Islands. It is commonly and widely cultivated in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Taiwan and now widely cultivated in the tropics. Common names in English include Java Apple, Java Rose apple, Mountain Apple, Samarang Rose Apple, Wax Apple, Wax Jambu, water apple, cloud apple, jambu air, bell fruit, Jamaican apple and Royal apple.
In Malaysia, there are three species which bear edible fruits, namely, the water apple (Syzygium aqueum), Malay apple (Syzygium malaccense), and wax apple or jambu air (Syzygium samarangense). S. samarangense is the most popular of the three in Southeast Asia, and the trees are cultivated in home gardens, often planted along driveways and paths. Fruit production is non-seasonal and the peak periods are in February to April and October to December. It has become an increasingly popular fruit in the tropical region where it can fetch a price of up to 3 USD per kilogram and has the potential to bring great benefit to local farmers and the country’s economy. (Note: The fruit from the Rose Apple tree is called Gulab jamun Ka Phal in Hindi. Do not confuse it with Gulab Jamun dessert.)
Plant Description
Rose Apple (Java Apple) is an evergreen tree that grows about 5–15 m tall, with short and crooked trunk, 25–50 cm diameter, with pinkish grey flaky bark, often branched near the base and with wide, irregular crown. The plant found growing in deep, loamy soil but it is not too demanding, it can also flourishes on sand and limestone with very little organic matter. Leaves are opposite, elliptic to elliptic-oblong, 10–25 centimeters (4–10 in) long and 5–10 centimeters (2–4 in) broad. Base is cordate, apex obtuse to slightly acuminate, coriaceous with thin margin, pellucid dotted, 14–19 pairs of nerve. They are strongly aromatic when bruised; petiole is stout, 3–5 mm long, yellowish green sometimes tinged with purple. Leaves are pink to dark violet when young turning to yellowish green to green with age.
Fruits
Fertile flowers are followed by bell-shaped, edible berry, with colors ranging from white, pale green, or green to red, purple, or crimson, to deep purple or even black. The fruit grows 4–6 centimeters (1.6–2.4 in) long in wild plants, and has 4 fleshy calyx lobes at the tip. The skin is thin and waxy, and the flesh is white spongy, juicy, aromatic, mildly sweet and crisp. Each berry holds 1–2 rounded seeds not larger than 0.8 centimeters (0.3 in) in diameter. The flowers and resulting fruit are not limited to the axils of the leaves, and can appear on nearly any point on the surface of the trunk and branches; when mature, the tree is considered a heavy bearer, yielding a crop of up to 700 fruits.
Despite its name, a ripe wax apple only resembles an apple on the outside in color, it does not taste like an apple, and it has neither the fragrance nor the density of an apple. Its flavor is similar to a snow pear,
