48 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



The fruit is ovate, two to five inches long, fleshy, inde- 

 hiscent, and with five prominent, acutely-angled ribs. The 

 skin is very thin, light yellow and fragrant. It is easily broken 

 or rubbed, discolors badly, and thus makes the fruit a poor 

 shipper. The immature flesh is fibrous and highly astringent, 

 but upon complete maturity it becomes watery and crisp. There 

 are two varieties of fruit : the sweet, which is eaten out of 

 hand, and the sour, which is very acid, and is used for pickles. 

 In India the astringent unripe fruits are used as a mordant 

 for dyeing, and the acid juice is used to remove rust spots, etc., 

 from clothing. An excellent drink, which might well be called 

 carambolade, is made from the mature fruits, in much the same 

 manner as lemonade is prepared. Its antiscorbutic properties 

 are widely known. The seeds are minute, flat, and brown. 

 The funicle is dilated into a fleshy, bilabiate, irregularly cut 

 aril. The embryo is straight, with thin foliaceous cotyledons 

 in a fleshy albumen. 



In the Hawaiian Islands the Carambola is most abundant 

 in the Honolulu region, and in certain parts of the long-settled 

 districts of Lihue and Waimea, Kauai ; Wailuku and Makawao, 

 Maui; Kohala and Hilo, Hawaii. It grows well at the lower 

 elevations, from 100 to 2,000 feet above sea level. Within 

 its tropical temperature requirements, moisture is a more im- 

 portant control factor than elevation. 



Averrhoa bilimbi Linn., the South American cucumber 

 tree, is native to, and extensively cultivated in South America, 

 but has not been introduced into Hawaii. It was introduced 

 into India by the Portugese at a very early date, and has be- 

 come thoroughly naturalized there. It is a large tree, twenty 

 to sixty feet high, with smooth, green, cucumber-shaped fruits. 

 These are commonly pickled or candied. The flowers are 

 made into preserves. It is to be hoped that in time both the 

 carambola and the bilimbi will become much more widely 

 known in Hawaii and on the mainland. 



