Koh Phangan Fruit Trees

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Since the Thai island of Phangan began to lively settle down relatively recently, it has preserved a real tropical jungle, full of wonders and unexpected encounters with the flora. Let's try to look into this green riot of foliage, sometimes disturbed by bright flowering and giving useful and delicious fruits to humans and herbivorous representatives of earthly life

Coconut palm

The "reigning" fruit tree on the island is the Coconut Palm. Its trunks, erect and slender or sloping towards the earth's surface, can be seen both on the beaches, since the palm tree calmly tolerates the salty soil, and along the roadsides (as in the main photo) or on the slopes of the mountains.

The coconut tree is a real earthly miracle that does not create any environmental problems for the planet. All parts of a woody plant participate in the cycle of earthly life, supporting it, and not destroying it, as a "reasonable" person often does. Everything that is not eaten by the numerous "freeloaders" of the Coconut palm and is not used by humans for domestic needs, quietly rotting, making the soil healthier.

From the fruits of the Coconut tree, armed with a hatchet, a knife and an electric blender, we got four delicious products at home without much hassle: clear coconut water, pleasant-tasting coconut milk, the most delicate coconut oil of snow-white color and coconut flakes of very fine grinding.

Mango

Being a great lover of the fruits of the Mango tree, which really strengthen the work of the heart and help to move the convolutions of the brain more vigorously, from the day of my arrival, I gazed intently at the crown of different trees, hoping to see mango fruits there. But, alas, Mango did not want to satisfy my curiosity. Until March, I came across Mango trees, densely covered with evergreen leaves, but I could not see either flowers or fruits on them.

Literally a couple of days ago, returning from the beach along a path that had been used more than once, I stopped from surprise in front of a bush that looked more like not a tree, but a lush bush with numerous mangoes hanging from its branches. They were small and green in color. I figured it was just some kind of decorative Mango. However, after two or three days I saw that the fruits had grown noticeably and were already similar to those sold from fruit trays. I share with you a photo of this modest natural miracle:

Papaya or Melon tree

Thin-stemmed Papaya with a palm-shaped crown of large, finger-dissected green leaves crowning long and strong petioles, is majestic and spectacular. It is impossible not to admire this tropical unpretentious beauty that can grow in any place, even the most inappropriate for life. Unpretentiousness to living conditions does not prevent Papaya from generously presenting oblong orange "melons" to all lovers of its fruits all year round.

The orange pulp of papaya is almost tasteless, sometimes a little sweetish, however, it is not so easy to break away from eating neatly cut squares. Papaya willingly accompanies mango and avocado in an appetizing fruit salad.

Here is such a curious neighborhood I met on one of the walks around the island:

The fragile woody papaya looks somewhat defenseless next to the herb called Banana, which gives people the hearty and wholesome fruit of bananas.

Morinda or Indian mulberry

I saw this tree by accident. While I was waiting for the ordered lunch in a cafe, I began to look around out of idleness and saw between two buildings, located close to each other, a rather large tree with simple large leaves. Despite the simple shape, which reminded me of the leaves of the Beech tree, the leaves of the tree were very picturesque, shining with their glossy surface. I went closer to the tree trunk and looked up … And there I was waiting for small white flowers and funny fruits, similar to cedar cones with peeled scales, only light green.

It turned out that this tree was called by botanists the word "Morinda". The tree also has popular names, for example, "Indian mulberry", "Cheese fruit". They write that the juice of the Morinda fruits, the so-called Noni juice, is very popular among people who dream of living a very long earthly life. To be honest, I didn't know anything about such juice. I'll have to take a closer look at Morind's tree, "what the hell is not kidding!", You see, and I will extend my earthly path.

Of course, this is just a small list of fruit trees growing in Phangan. As I get to know others, I will try to tell the Asyendochka about them. After all, every day the island slowly reveals its secrets to me, seeing that I did not come to it "with a sword", but came with a desire to learn more about tropical plants, fertile and healing.