Bilimbi

Where does Bilimbi grow?

Found in: Africa, Amazon, Andamans, Asia, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, British Indian Ocean Terr., BIOT, Cambodia, Central America, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, East Africa, East Timor, Fiji, Ghana, Grenada, Guam, Guyana, Haiti, Hawaii, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Jamaica, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mariana Islands, Mexico, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nauru, Nicaragua, Northeastern India, Pacific, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, PNG, Peru, Philippines, Pohnpei, SE Asia, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South America, Sri Lanka, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Suriname, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, United States, Vietnam, West Africa, West Indies, West Timor

Notes: There are 5 Averrhoa species. Sometimes Averrhoa are put in the Averrhoaceae family.

Status: Only of minor use as a flavouring in cooking. It is common in India and south Asia. Occasional trees occur in Papua New Guinea and the fruit is probably little used.

Growing Bilimbi

Cultivation: Trees are mostly grown from seeds. It grows wild in secondary forest in many coastal areas. It can also be grown by air layering.

Edible Uses: The fruit are used for souring dishes. They can also be used for jams, drinks, pickles and in curries. The flowers can be made into conserves.

Production: Flowers are produced all year round. Flowering is more common in dry seasons. Plants produce fruit after 5-6 years/ Fruit mature in 90 years. A tree can produce 500 fruit in a year.

Nutrition Info

Bilimbi Photos

References

AAK, 1980, Bertanam Pohon Buah-buahan. Penerbitan Yayasan Kanisius, Jogyakarta. p 16

Abbiw, D.K., 1990, Useful Plants of Ghana. West African uses of wild and cultivated plants. Intermediate Technology Publications and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. p 42

Ambasta S.P. (Ed.), 2000, The Useful Plants of India. CSIR India. p 63

Arora, R. K., 2014, Diversity in Underutilized Plant Species - An Asia-Pacific Perspective. Bioversity International. p 59

Baishya, S. Kr., et al, 2013, Survey of Wild Edible Fruits of Dhubri District, Assam, India. Plant Archives Vol 13 (1): 155-158

Barwick, M., 2004, Tropical and Subtropical Trees. A Worldwide Encyclopedic Guide. Thames and Hudson p 39

Bircher, A. G. & Bircher, W. H., 2000, Encyclopedia of Fruit Trees and Edible Flowering Plants in Egypt and the Subtropics. AUC Press. p 49

Bodkin, F., 1991, Encyclopedia Botanica. Cornstalk publishing, p 120

Brouk, B., 1975, Plants Consumed by Man. Academic Press, London. p 163

Brown, W.H., 1920, Wild Food Plants of the Philippines. Bureau of Forestry Bulletin No. 21 Manila. p 72

Burkill, H. M., 1985, The useful plants of west tropical Africa, Vol. 4. Kew.

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 272

Chakraborty, S. & Chaturbedi, H. P., 2014, Some Wild Edible Fruits of Tripura- A Survey. Indian Journal of Applied research. (4) 9

Chandrashekara, U. M., 2009, Tree species yielding edible fruit in the coffee-based homegardens of Kerala, India: their diversity, uses and management. Food Sec. 1:361-370

Chin, H.F., & Yong, H.S., 1996, Malaysian Fruits in Colour. Tropical press, Kuala Lumpur p 54

Coronel, R.E., 1982, Fruit Collections in the Philippines. IBPGR Newsletter p 6

Cundall, P., (ed.), 2004, Gardening Australia: flora: the gardener's bible. ABC Books. p 210

Darley, J.J., 1993, Know and Enjoy Tropical Fruit. P & S Publishers. p 21

Ekman Herbarium records Haiti

Facciola, S., 1998, Cornucopia 2: a Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, p 45

Flora of Pakistan. www.eFloras.org

Flowerdew, B., 2000, Complete Fruit Book. Kyle Cathie Ltd., London. p 158

Food Composition Tables for use in East Asia FAO http://www.fao.org/infoods/directory No. 827

French, B., 1986, Food Plants of Papua New Guinea, Asia Pacific Science Foundation p 222

French, B.R., 2010, Food Plants of Solomon Islands. A Compendium. Food Plants International Inc. p 223

Garner, R.J., and Chaudhri, S.A., (Ed.) 1976, The Propagation of Tropical fruit Trees. FAO/CAB. p 29

Hedrick, U.P., 1919, (Ed.), Sturtevant's edible plants of the world. p 88

Heywood, V.H., Brummitt, R.K., Culham, A., and Seberg, O. 2007, Flowering Plant Families of the World. Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. p 239

Hutton, W., 1997, Tropical Herbs and Spices of Indonesia. Periplus. p 14

Hu, Shiu-ying, 2005, Food Plants of China. The Chinese University Press. p 490

Jardin, C., 1970, List of Foods Used In Africa, FAO Nutrition Information Document Series No 2.p 122

Kiple, K.F. & Ornelas, K.C., (eds), 2000, The Cambridge World History of Food. CUP p 1731

Lembaga Biologi Nasional, 1977, Buah-Buahan, Balai Pustaka, Jakarta. p 20

Lembogi Biologi Nasional, 1980, Sayur-sayuran. Balai Pustaka, Jakarta. p 16

Llamas, K.A., 2003, Tropical Flowering Plants. Timber Press. p 306

Lorenzi, H., Bacher, L., Lacerda, M. & Sartori, S., 2006, Brazilian Fruits & Cultivated Exotics. Sao Paulo, Instituto Plantarum de Estuados da Flora Ltda. p 466

Macmillan, H.F. (Revised Barlow, H.S., et al) 1991, Tropical Planting and Gardening. Sixth edition. Malayan Nature Society. Kuala Lumpur. p 293

Martin, F. W., et al, 1987, Perennial Edible Fruits of the Tropics. USDA Handbook 642 p 44

Martin, M.A., 1971, Introduction L'Ethnobotanique du Cambodge. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Paris

Miguel, E., et al, 1989, A checklist of the cultivated plants of Cuba. Kulturpflanze 37. 1989, 211-357

Morton, J. F., 1987, Fruits of Warm Climates. Wipf & Stock Publishers p 128

Pasha, M. K. & Uddin, S. B., 2019, Minor Edible Fruits of Bangladesh. Bangladesh J. Plant Taxon. 26(2): 299–313

Patiri, B. & Borah, A., 2007, Wild Edible Plants of Assam. Geethaki Publishers. p 20

Pawera, L., et al, 2020, Wild Food Plants and Trends in Their Use: From Knowledge and Perceptions to Drivers of Change in West Sumatra, Indonesia, Foods. 2020, 9, 1240

Phon, P., 2000, Plants used in Cambodia. © Pauline Dy Phon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. p 54

PROSEA (Plant Resources of South East Asia) handbook, Volume 2, 1991, Edible fruits and nut. p 96

Ochse, J. J. et al, 1931, Vegetables of the Dutch East Indies. Asher reprint. p 547

Omawale, 1973, Guyana's edible plants. Guyana University, Georgetown p 44

Ong, H.C. et al, 2012, Traditional knowledge and usage of edible plants among the Temuan villagers, Malaysia. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge. 11(1) pp 161-165

Owen, S., 1993, Indonesian Food and Cookery, INDIRA reprints. p 49

Paul, A., 2013, Minor and uncultivated fruits of Eastern India, 2nd International Symposium on Minor Fruits and Medicinal Plants

Peekel, P.G., 1984, (Translation E.E.Henty), Flora of the Bismarck Archipelago for Naturalists, Division of Botany, Lae, PNG. p 265, 264

Plants of Haiti Smithsonian Institute http://botany.si.edu/antilles/West Indies

Purseglove, J.W., 1968, Tropical Crops Dicotyledons, Longmans. p 638

Rajapaksha, U., 1998, Traditional Food Plants in Sri Lanka. HARTI, Sri Lanka. p 348

Segura, S., et al, 2018, The edible fruit species in Mexico. Genet Resour Crop Evol (2018) 65:1767–1793

Seidemann J., 2005, World Spice Plants. Economic Usage, Botany, Taxonomy. Springer. p 59

Selvam, V., 2007, Trees and shrubs of the Maldives. RAP Publication No. 2007/12 p 34

Smith, N., Mori, S.A., et al, 2004, Flowering Plants of the Neotropics. Princeton. Plate 35 (Photo)

Solomon, C., 2001, Encyclopedia of Asian Food. New Holland. p 39

Sp. pl. 1:428. 1753

Staples, G.W. and Herbst, D.R., 2005, A tropical Garden Flora. Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu, Hawaii. p 446

Sujanapal, P., & Sankaran, K. V., 2016, Common Plants of Maldives. FAO & Kerala FRI, p 46

Sujarwo, W., et al, 2016, Traditional knowledge of wild and semi-wild edible plants used in Bali (Indonesia) to maintain biological and cultural diversity. Plant Biosystems, 2016, Vol. 150, No. 5, 971-976

Sukarya, D. G., (Ed.) 2013, 3,500 Plant Species of the Botanic Gardens of Indonesia. LIPI p 141

Sukenti, K., et al, 2016, Ethnobotanical study on local cuisine of the Sasak tribe in Lombok Island, Indonesia. Journal of Ethnic Foods. 3 (2016) 189-200 p 198

Suwardi, A. B., et al, 2020, Ethnobotany and conservation of indigenous edible fruit plants in South Aceh, Indonesia. Biodiversitas Vol. 21, No. 5, pp 1850-1860

Swaminathan, M.S., and Kochnar, S.L., 2007, An Atlas of Major Flowering Trees in India. Macmillan. p 86

Tankard, G., 1990, Tropical fruit. An Australian Guide to Growing and using exotic fruit. Viking p 105

Tate, D., 1999, Tropical Fruit. Archipelago Press. Singapore. p 32

Terra, G.J.A., 1973, Tropical Vegetables. Communication 54e Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, p 27

Topp, J. M. W., 1988, An Annotated Check List of the Flora of Diego Garcia, British Ocean Territory. Atoll Research Bulletin No. 313

Tyagi, R. K., et al, 2004, Conservation of Spices Germplasm in India. Indian J. Plant Genet. Resour. 17(3): 163-174

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN). [Online Database] National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Available: www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/econ.pl (10 April 2000)

van Wyk, B., 2005, Food Plants of the World. An illustrated guide. Timber press. p 81

Vasquez, R. and Gentry, A. H., 1989, Use and Misuse of Forest-harvested Fruits in the Iquitos Area. Conservation Biology 3(4): 350f

Zawiah, N. & Othaman, H., 2012, 99 Spesies Buah di FRIM. Institut Penyelidikan Perhutanan Malaysia. p 40

Williams, C.N., Chew, W.Y., and Rajartnam, J.A., 1989, Tree and Field Crops of the Wetter Regions of the Tropics. Longman, p 118

World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

www.worldagroforestrycentre.org/treedb/

Zuchowski W., 2007, Tropical Plants of Costa Rica. A Zona Tropical Publication, Comstock Publishing. p 188