Bellucia pentamera

Naudin

Five part bellucia, Coronilo

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(c) Andrés Felipe SantoDomingo J., some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Andrés Felipe SantoDomingo J.

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(c) Scamperdale, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

What to Eat

Edible parts: Fruit

The large juicy fruits are edible. Not very tasty. The pale yellow fruit is a depressed-globose berry around 25mm x 30 - 50mm, containing numerous small seeds.

Where to Find It

A tropical plant. It grows in semi-humid forests. It grows on the higher parts of the floodplain. It can grow to 1,600 m above sea level.

Africa, Amazon, Andes, Asia, Belize, Bolivia*, Brazil, Cameroon, Central Africa, Central America, Colombia*, Congo DR, Costa Rica, Ecuador*, El Salvador, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico*, Nicaragua, North America, Panama, Peru*, SE Asia, South America, Venezuela, West Indies,

Countries: United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Antigua & Barbuda, Armenia, Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Bahrain, Burundi, Benin, Brunei, Bolivia, Brazil, Bahamas, Bhutan, Botswana, Belize, Canada, Congo (DRC), Central African Republic, Congo (Republic), Cote d'Ivoire, Chile, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Algeria, Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Grenada, Georgia, French Guiana, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Haiti, Indonesia, Israel, India, Iraq, Iran, Jamaica, Jordan, Japan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, Comoros, St Kitts & Nevis, North Korea, South Korea, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Laos, Lebanon, St Lucia, Sri Lanka, Liberia, Lesotho, Libya, Morocco, Madagascar, Mali, Myanmar, Mongolia, Mauritania, Mauritius, Maldives, Malawi, Mexico, Malaysia, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Nepal, Oman, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Paraguay, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Sudan, Singapore, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Somalia, Suriname, South Sudan, Sao Tome & Principe, El Salvador, Syria, Eswatini, Chad, Togo, Thailand, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Trinidad & Tobago, Taiwan, Tanzania, Uganda, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, St Vincent, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe

How to Identify

An erect shrub. It grows 3-5 m tall. It can grow to 20 m tall. The leaves are large, thick and rounded. They are lighter green underneath. Leaf stalks have grooves. The flowers and fruit can be in the axils of leaves or on the trunks. The flowers are pink. The fruit occur as 3-12 together. The fruit is a flattened berry. It is 2.5 cm long by 3-5 cm wide. The fruit are pale yellow.

How to Grow

Plants are grown from seed. Plants are spaced 3 m apart.

Propagation: Seed - due to its small size, it is best to place the fruits in plastic bags until the pulp has partially decomposed then mix them with water to make a suspension. Water the soil in a nursery seedbed with this suspension and do not cover the seed, but make sure the soil does not dry out.

Medicinal Uses

The juice from the bark is given to babies as a treatment for thrush. The fresh fruits are used as an anthelmintic.

Other Uses

The rasped stem is used to dye gourds.

Production

Fruit are produced in the rainy season.

Other Information

The fruit are popular.

Names & Synonyms

Capirote manzano, Cola de caballo, Coronel, Coronilla, Coronillo, Disper, Ekoti ya monseigneur, Estrella de monte, Ewegikabo, Eweyimo, Fruta estrella, Guayaba de pava, Guayabo de monte, Jambu kerak, Jambu tangkalak, Jepe, Kisa muyu yura, Manzanito, Manzano de montana, Neflier de Costa Rica, Nispero, Oluka dunnel, Oluka dummet, Payantsu, Payanzo, Pera de montana, Pohon jambu tangkalak, Quisa muyu yura, Sacha guayaba, Sacha nispero, Sacha payas, Sir-in, Tunguia, Tunkia, Tuunki

Axinanthera macrophylla H. Karst.Bellucia aricuaizensum PittierBellucia axinanthera TrianaBellucia costaricensis Cogn.Bellucia weberbaueri Cogn.

References (31)

Altschul, S.V.R., 1973, Drugs and Foods from Little-known Plants. Notes in Harvard University Herbaria. Harvard Univ. Press. Massachusetts. no. 3094 (As Bellucia weberbaueri)
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Trans. Linn. Soc. London 28:142. 1871 - an illegitimate, superfluous name (ICBN Art. 52) (As Bellucia axinanthera)
Van den Eynden, V., et al, 2003, Wild Foods from South Ecuador. Economic Botany 57(4): 576-603
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World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew