432 MANUAL OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS 



hand ; it may be pickled in the same manner as the cucumber, 

 which it resembles in appearance; it may be preserved in 

 sirup ; or it may be used as a relish with meat or fish. 



The tree, which grows to about 30 feet in height, may be 

 distinguished readily from the carambola by its larger leaves, 

 which have five to seventeen pairs of leaflets in place of two 

 to five. The crimson flowers have ten stamens, all perfect. 

 The fruit, known in different regions as bilambu, balimbing, 

 blimbing, blimbee, and camias, is cylindrical or obscurely five- 

 angled, 2 to 4 inches long, greenish yellow and translucent 

 when ripe, with soft juicy flesh containing a few small flattened 

 seeds. 



The requirements of the tree are much the same as those of 

 the carambola. It is usually propagated by seeds. P. J. 

 Wester reported that attempts to bud it were not successful. 

 No horticultural varieties are grown. 



THE TAMARIND (Fig. 56) 

 (Tamarindus indica, L.) 



In addition to the usefulness of its fruit, the tamarind has 

 the advantage of being one of the best ornamental trees of the 

 tropics. It is particularly valued in semi-arid regions, where 

 it grows luxuriantly if supplied with water at the root. From 

 India to Brazil, its huge dome-shaped head of graceful foliage 

 enlightens many a dreary scene. 



The fruit became known in Europe in the Middle Ages. 

 Marco Polo mentioned it in 1298, but it was not until Garcia 

 d'Orta correctly described it in 1563 that its true source was 

 known; it was thought at first to be produced by an Indian 

 palm. The New England sea-captains who traded with the 

 West Indies in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries fre- 

 quently brought the preserved fruit to Boston from Jamaica 

 and other islands, but in recent years it has become scarcely 



