Talisia esculenta
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Talisia esculenta Radlk. |
Talisia esculenta is a medium-sized tree native to the Amazon Basin, and is found in Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Paraguay and Bolivia. It can grow to a height of 9-20 m, with a trunk up to 45 cm diameter. The leaves are arranged alternately, pinnately compound, with 5-11 leaflets, the leaflets 5-12 cm long and 2-5 cm broad.
The flowers are produced in a panicle 10-15 cm long, the individual flowers small and white. The fruit is round to ellipsoid in shape, 1.5-4 cm in diameter, with a brown skin over a white sweet-sour pulp and one to two nut-like seeds. The fruit is eaten fresh and used to make juice. The sap used as a fish poison. Roasted seeds are used to treat diarrhea.
The tree and fruit are called pitomba in English, Spanish and Portuguese, cotopalo in Spanish, pitoulier comestible in French and olho de boi, pitomba-rana and pitomba de macaco in Portuguese. Pitomba is also used as the name for Eugenia luschnathiana.
