Limonia acidissima L., Rutaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Other Latin names:  Feronia limonia Swingle

Common name(s): [more details]

English: elephant apple, elephant-apple, Indian wood-apple, wood apple

Fijian: vakandra

Hindi: kabeet, kabut, vellam pelam

Habit:  tree

Description: 

Genus: "Often polygamomonoecious tree, the spines axillary, short, straight, the young branchlets and foliage minutely appressed-pilose, soon glabrate; leaves alternate, imparipinnate, often deciduous, the petiole and rachis winged, the rachis segments articulated at bases of leaflets, the leaflets 5 or 7, opposite, subsessile, the blades ovate to obovate, pellucid-glandular, entire to crenulate; inflorescences axillary or terminal, loosely paniculate, the flowers perfect or male by abortion, (4-) 5 (-6)-merous; calyx small, flat, dentate, caducous; petals spreading, oblong to ovate-lanceolate, imbricate in bud, accrescent during anthesis; disk short, finely pilose; stamens usually twice as many as petals, the filaments dilated, copiously tomentose and coherent proximally, subulate at apex, the anthers large, linear-oblong, basifixed; ovary globose, incompletely 4-6 (-7)-locular (empty in male flowers), becoming 1-locular with parietal placentae, the ovules very numerous, borne in several series at angles of incomplete ovary walls, the style short, thick, attenuate, the stigma oblong-fusiform; fruits large, globose, with a woody shell, unilocular, the parietal placentae  bearing numerous seeds surrounded by gumlike pulp, the seeds oblong, compressed, the testa thin, pilose." (Smith, 1985)

Species:  "A spiny, deciduous tree to about 9 m high... The flowers are dull red or reddish, the fruits brown or whitish, up to 8 cm in diameter, with a hard, woody rind and pinkish, aromatic pulp" (Smith, 1985; pp. 526-527).

Habitat/ecology:  In Fiji, "occasionally cultivated and sometimes naturalized in waste places" (Smith, 1985; pp. 526-527).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  India and Ceylon, but now cultivated in southeastern Asia, Malesia and elsewhere, and sometimes naturalized (Smith, 1985; pp. 526-527).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Fiji Fiji Islands	Ovalau Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Smith, Albert C. (1985) (pp. 526-527)
Fiji Fiji Islands	Vanua Levu Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Smith, Albert C. (1985) (pp. 526-527) Voucher cited: DA 16405
Fiji Fiji Islands	Viti Levu Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Smith, Albert C. (1985) (pp. 526-527)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Cambodia Cambodia	Cambodia (Kingdom of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
China China	China (People's Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Thailand Thailand	Thailand (Kingdom of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Vietnam Vietnam	Vietnam (Socialist Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

Additional information:
Information from the World Agroforestry Centre's AgroForestryTree Database.

Additional online information about Limonia acidissima is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Limonia acidissima as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Limonia acidissima may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Smith, Albert C. 1985. Flora Vitiensis nova: a new flora of Fiji. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Kauai, Hawaii. Volume 3. 758 pp.

Swarbrick, John T. 1997. Weeds of the Pacific Islands. Technical paper no. 209. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. 124 pp.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.