2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Pulasan (lat. Nephelium mutabile) - a fruit tree belonging to the Sapindovye family.
Description
Pulasan, or pulazan, is a fruit tree reaching a height of ten to twelve meters. Short straight pulasan trunks are equipped with many branches extending in different directions. And the brown bark of trees is distinguished by a pronounced roughness.
Unpaired or paired alternate and slightly wavy Pulasan leaves are endowed with pairs of opposite leaves in the amount of from two to five. All of them have a smooth surface, are painted in dark green tones and are covered with miniature hairs on the lower sides. In width, leaf plates can reach from ten to thirty centimeters, and in length - from twenty to forty centimeters.
The tiny greenish pulasan flowers are endowed with four to five pubescent sepals.
Pulasan fruits resemble rambutan in appearance, however, unlike the latter, the surface of the pulasan is covered with sparser and shorter hairs. Outwardly, the fruits are oval or rounded berries reaching a diameter of five to seven centimeters. And the aromatic, soft and sweet pulasan pulp is painted in creamy or white tones. Inside each fruit, you can find several light brown oblong small seeds.
Where grows
The homeland of Pulasan is the Malay Peninsula. Both in culture and in the wild, this plant can be found in the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia. In addition, Pulasan is grown in Cambodia, India and Australia.
And on the American continent, few know about the existence of Pulasan, with the exception of Costa Rica, where this crop is grown on an insignificant scale.
Application
Pulasan is eaten fresh or made into preserves, jams and desserts. And from fried or boiled seeds of this culture, a cocoa drink is prepared.
Pulasan roots and leaves are widely used in medicine. Pulasan seeds are used to produce oil used in the production of soap, and the roots and leaves with bark are indispensable raw materials for the manufacture of natural paint. And the dried peel of the fruit can still be found in pharmacies in Southeast Asia - there it is considered an effective drug.
The main disadvantages of Pulasan are the extremely unimportant keeping quality of the fruits and their rather short shelf life. That is why canned fruits are most often exported.
Growing
Pulasan is a crop that can grow in almost any soil. And since this plant is very light-requiring, it needs to be provided with proper lighting. In addition, it needs regular and abundant watering - this tree is quite hygrophilous. Thermophilicity is also characteristic of Pulasan - it simply cannot stand low temperatures. If the thermometer drops below ten degrees, this will negatively affect the yield. The most comfortable temperature for this culture will be in the range from twenty-five to twenty-nine degrees.
When planting Pulasan, it is important to try to keep the distance between the trees at least eight to ten meters. In principle, this culture does not require special care, the most important thing is to constantly keep the soil moist.
It is noteworthy that after a long drought, Pulasan blooms very profusely and gives rich harvests. And they propagate it both by grafting and by seeds. Moreover, it can be propagated by budding, and air layers, and cuttings. As a rule, grafted trees begin to bear fruit in the third or fourth year of life. Pulasan grown from seeds will please with the first harvest only in the fifth year. By the way, the harvest of these attractive fruits is harvested twice a year: in December and in July.
