Scientific Name : Syzygium jambos (L.) Alston
Common Name : Rose Apple
Chinese Name : 蒲桃
Family : MYRTACEAE
Local distribution status : Exotic species
| Origins | Rose Apple has a long cultivation history in Southeast Asia and South China. However, the origin of this plant is unknown. Flora of China states that “origin uncertain but possibly from West Malaysia and Southeast Asia... is often cultivated for its fruit throughout the tropics, so some gatherings may in fact not be from wild plants”. Similarly, Flora of Shenzhen also mentions that “it may originate from Southeast Asia and West Malaysia”. |
|---|---|
| Rose Apple & Java Apple | Fruits of the Rose Apple are edible. Rose Apple and Java Apple (Syzygium samarangense (Blume) Merr. & L. M. Perry) are both known as “蒲桃 (pronunciation in Cantonese: pou4 tou4)” in the wet markets of Hong Kong. However, they are two different species. Fruits of the Rose Apple are globose, coloured in yellowish green, and sometimes hollow. When the fruit is shaken, the collision of its seeds will produce light rattling sound. But the edible portion of it is very limited. In contrast, fruit of the Java Apple is pyriform or turbinate, with juicy and milky-white flesh, and is often seedless. Java Apples in a purplish red colour are more commonly seen, but the green coloured ones are also being sold in the markets. |
| Ecology | Although Rose Apple is an exotic species, it already naturalized in Hong Kong which is common in Fung Shui Wood and village sides. It also provides food and shelters for the local fauna, which benefits the biodiversity of urban forest. However, Rose Apple is invasive species of Southern Africa, Australia and certain islands in the Pacific Ocean, undermining the native flora in those places. |
| Growing habit | Evergreen tree. |
|---|---|
| Height | To 10 m. |
| Stems | Bark of trunk brown. Branches spreading. Branchlets terete to subterete, brownish red. |
| Leaves | Leathery, lanceolate to oblong, lateral vein connected into intramarginal veins about 2 mm from margin. Many small pellucid glands on both surfaces. Lateral veins prominent abaxially, reticulate veins conspicuous. |
| Flowers | Stamens many, white, exserted from the corolla. Petals greenish white, broadly ovate, distinct. Calyx 4-lobed, semiorbicular, persistent. |
| Fruits | Globose, with oil glands, pale yellow when mature. Pericarp fleshy and fragrant. With 1 to 2 seed(s). |
| Flowering period | March to April in Hong Kong. |
| Fruiting period | May to June in Hong Kong. |
Scientific name above is based on Hong Kong Herbarium website : https://www.herbarium.gov.hk/en/hk-plant-database/plant-detail/index.html?pType=species&oID=7068
Scientific names from other databases
― Flora of China : Syzygium jambos (Linnaeus) Alston
― Plants of the World Online : Syzygium jambos (L.) Alston