2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Dear amateur gardeners, did you know that there is a tree on which wooden apples grow? Feronia - the name of this amazing plant, grows in Southeast Asia. If you rub a leaf of this tree in your hands, you will feel a lemon scent. Let's talk more about this fruit tree in the article
The first information about the Wooden Apple or Lemon Feronia was received by the inhabitants of the island of Sri Lanka and in India, where this plant is now actively cultivated and grows in parks, creating beautiful alleys.
Botanical description
The wood apple looks like a medium-sized tree, with a straight trunk covered with gray, wrinkled, flaky bark with strong long thorns. Feronium grows rather slowly. The branches are covered with long, obovate green leaves 5 to 13 cm long, with a characteristic fragrant lemon scent.
Feronia blooms with pink, small flowers, after the withering of which, an ovary of a young fruit is formed. Gradually, the ovary turns into a spherical grayish fruit, which is covered with a tough and hard woody shell. The diameter of the fruit is 5-12 cm. The inner content of the fruit is represented by a mealy brown pulp, which contains small white seeds. The astringent pulp is very fragrant, remembered for its sweetness and stickiness. The taste of feronia fruits is not at all like the taste of ordinary apples, they are more reminiscent of mango or pineapple.
Growing
The feronia tree propagates either by cuttings or by seeds. If you decide to grow a wooden apple at home, then stratify the seeds. To do this, soak the seeds for six hours in warm water. Fill the planting container with a potting mix of coco peat and sand. Grow seeds in a greenhouse or place the container in a warm place with a temperature of 24-26 ° C.
Feronia is unpretentious, but choose a sunny and well-lit place for better growth and development, watering moderately in the summer. With the onset of cold weather in the fall, the plant is practically not watered, the temperature is reduced to 16-18 ° C.
Useful properties and benefits
Possessing a rich chemical composition, feronia fruits are used in folk medicine. The use of this fruit is useful for enhancing vision, because in its composition the fruits of feronia contain vitamin A, which reduces the risk of eye diseases. The pulp is also rich in vitamins C, B, essential oils, tannins, citric acid, minerals, it contains saponins, bergapten, psoralen. The presence of ascorbic acid in feronia fruits helps to strengthen the immune system and fight viruses.
If the fruit is not ripe, then it has an astringent and tonic effect, it is recommended for diarrhea and dysentery. A decoction based on leaves of a tree is indicated for hiccups, vomiting, indigestion. Drink wood apple juice to improve memory and stimulate mental abilities, and it will also help with sore throat and stomatitis. You can even use the bark and thorns of the plant, the infusion of which is used for liver diseases and heavy menstruation.
Application
In order to consume the edible pulp of the feronia fruit, break the strong woody shell with a pickaxe. For the best taste, the pulp is mixed with sugar, coconut milk, palm syrup. The inside of the fruit is used to make a sweet cream, and the leaves are added to green salads. The pulp is used to make sorbet, jelly and many sweet desserts. Feronia is used to make various jams, fruit preserves, fillings for sweets, and fillings for ice cream.
In addition to being used in cooking, the pulp of a wooden apple is used as a detergent, because it has a soap-like effect.
Houses are built from the wood of this fruit tree, and agricultural tools are made. An essential oil is obtained from the fruit, which is used to flavor hair.
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