1197

 Nephelium lappaceum L.

Synonym	:	Dimocarpus crinitus Lour.
Family	:	Sapindaceae
Local name	:	English- Rambutan Malayalam- Rambutan
Flowering and fruiting period	:	March-July
Distribution	:	Native of Malesia and China
Distribution in Kerala	:	Idukki, Wayanad, Thrissur, Palakkad, Pathanamthitta
Habitat	:	Cultivated
Endemic/Exotic	:	Exotic
Uses	:	Edible fruit
Key botanical characters:   Trees, fairly large in natural vegetation; clonal trees small, usually with a spreading habit. Leaves alternate, paripinnate,; leaflets ovate to obovate, usually horizontal, above, beneath variably hairy veins scalariform to coarsely reticulate. Inflorescence pseudo-terminal to usually terminal. Flower either male(only stamens well developed) or hermaphrodite and either effectively female (stamens small, anther not dehiscing) or male (stigma not opening), actinomorphic, whitish, yellowish or greenish; sepals 4-5, nearly free to more than halfway connate. Petals usually absent, Fruits ellipsoid to subglobular, usually only 1 locule, yellow to purplish red, hardly stalked, apparently often at least in the apical part finely dehiscing, glabrous, usually densely set with filiform, curved, 0.5-2 cm long appendages; seed covered by a thick, juicy, white to yellow, translucent sarcotesta.