Embelia philippinensis — Edible Plant Database

What to Eat

Edible parts: Leaves, Fruit, Spice

Leaves - cooked. The acid-tasting leaves are used as a flavouring for vegetables or to give a sour taste to soup. Fruit. A sweet-sour taste. The fruit is a globose berry, up to 5mm in diameter, red when ripe.

Where to Find It

A tropical plant. It grows in open and partly shaded secondary forest. They occur in the Philippines from northern Luzon to the northern provinces of Mindanao.

Asia, Malaysia, Pacific, Philippines*, SE Asia,

Countries: United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Brunei, Bhutan, China, Fiji, Micronesia, Georgia, Indonesia, Israel, India, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, Kiribati, North Korea, South Korea, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Laos, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Marshall Islands, Myanmar, Mongolia, Maldives, Malaysia, Nepal, Nauru, New Zealand, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Pakistan, Palau, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, Singapore, Syria, Thailand, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Tonga, Turkey, Tuvalu, Taiwan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Vanuatu, Samoa, Yemen

How to Identify

A woody vine with spiny old stems. The vines can be 4 m long and 1.5 cm across. The branches are smooth and shiny. The leaves are alternate, leathery, smooth and 7 to 14 cm long by 3-4 cm wide. The flowers are small and whitish and occur in considerable numbers in compound flower arrangements. The fruit are berry like, sour and up to 5 mm across. They are red and usually with a noticeable narrow extension of the ovary at the tip.

How to Grow

It can be grown from seed or by stem cuttings. The seeds are best planted in a nursery and then transplanted. Cuttings are taken from mature stems.

Propagation: Seed - Stem cuttings.

Other Uses

The fresh mature stems are used for temporary tying purposes.

Notes

There are about 140 Embelia species. Also put in the family Myrsinaceae.

Names & Synonyms

Bisolak, Bisudak, Dikai, Lando, Pongpong, War ilang

Rhamnus lando LlanosRibesoides philippense O.KuntzeSamara philippinensis Vidal

References (11)

Brown, W.H., 1920, Wild Food Plants of the Philippines. Bureau of Forestry Bulletin No. 21 Manila. p 142
Burkill, I.H., 1966, A Dictionary of the Economic Products of the Malay Peninsula. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol 1 (A-H) p 934
Chua-Barcelo, R. T., 2014, Ethnobotanical survey of edible wild fruits in Benguet, Cordillera administrative region, the Philippines. Asian Pac. J. Trop. Biomed. 4(Suppl. 1):S525-S538
Hoare, A., 2003, Food use of the Lundayeh SW Sabah. Borneo Research Council.
Kulip, J., 2003, An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal and other useful plants of Muruts in Sabah, Malaysia. Telopea 10(1) p 91
Martin, F.W. & Ruberte, R.M., 1979, Edible Leaves of the Tropics. Antillian College Press, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. p 207
Monsalud, M.R., Tongacan, A.L., Lopez, F.R., & Lagrimas, M.Q., 1966, Edible Wild Plants in Philippine Forests. Philippine Journal of Science. p 510
Polinag, M. A., 2003, Food from the Wilderness. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Laguna.
PROSEA handbook Volume 13 Spices. p 253
Seidemann J., 2005, World Spice Plants. Economic Usage, Botany, Taxonomy. Springer. p 145
World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew