Chrysophyllum lanceolatum (Blume) DC. (SAPOTACEAE)
Common names
Kannada: Paale hannu.
Malayalam: Atha.
Tamil: Kappalei.
Description: Evergreen trees, 15-25 m tall with milky juice; branches horizontal; bark smooth, grey; young parts clothed with fulvous pubescence. Leaves lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate, 10-18 x 3-6 cm, acute at base, acuminate at apex, glabrous, shining; main nerves very numerous; petioles 5-8 mm long. Flowers 5-merous, in rounded clusters, creamy-white. Calyx broadly campanulate, lobes 5, hairy without. Corolla orbicular, lobes 5, white. Stamens 5, included; filaments short. Staminodes absent. Ovary 5-locular; style short; stigma obscure. The fruit is a berry, roughly spherical, measuring 2.5 to 4 centimeters, exhibiting obscure five to six angles, and having a yellowish-green hue. It contains about 5 to 6 seeds, shaped like ellipsoids, ranging from 1.3 to 1.8 centimeters in length and 0.6 to 1 centimeter in width. These seeds are highly polished, extremely hard, and display a brownish-yellow color.
Flowering & Fruiting : January – May.
Distribution: India: Common in evergreen and moist deciduous forests of the Western Ghats. Sri Lanka, Malacca, Malaysia.
Uses: The fruit which is called the star apple is pulpy and eaten, though not very palatable.
