328 MANUAL OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS 



every garden in Singapore and Penang, and its fruit is one of 

 the most delicious of the region. It resembles the litchi in 

 character. 



As seen in cultivation, the tree is 35 or 40 feet high, erect 

 and stately in appearance. The compound leaves are com- 

 posed of five to seven pairs of elliptic, obovate, or oblong leaflets, 

 glabrate, about 4 inches long, shining and dark green above, 

 paler beneath. The flower-panicles are axillary and terminal, 

 loose and spreading in form, the flowers small, pubescent, the 

 calyx campanulate, five- or six-cleft, the petals wanting. The 

 fruits, which are produced in clusters of ten or twelve, are oval, 

 about 2 inches in length, and covered with soft fleshy spines J 

 inch long. They are crimson in color, sometimes greenish, 

 yellowish, or orange-yellow. The outer covering, from which 

 the spines arise, is thin and leathery, and is easily torn off, ex- 

 posing the white, translucent, juicy flesh (aril) which adheres 

 to the oblong, pointed, and flattened seed. The flavor is 

 acidulous, somewhat suggesting that of the grape. It is 

 usually relished by Europeans, though considered slightly 

 inferior to its relative the litchi. 



Apparently the rambutan is well distributed throughout 

 the Malay Archipelago. H. F. Macmillan says : "It is curious 

 that this fruit, which is so common in the low-country of 

 Ceylon and in the Straits, appears to be scarcely known in 

 India, Mauritius, Madagascar, etc." It has been introduced 

 into the American tropics by the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, but is not yet well established there. 



The common name is taken from the Malayan word rambut, 

 meaning hair, and has reference to the long soft spines with 

 which the fruit is covered. Rambustan, ramboetan, and rara- 

 botang are forms sometimes used. The French spell it ram- 

 boutan and sometimes call the fruit litchi chevelu (hairy litchi). 



The rambutan is eaten fresh. It has been found to contain 

 about the same amount of sugar as the litchi and longan, as 



