Lansium domesticum, or lanzones, ,--)

Description

The tree is average sized, reaching in height and in diameter. 30 years old trees grown from seed and planted at 8 × 8 meter spacing can have a height of 10 meters and diameter of 25 cm. The trunk grows in an irregular manner, with its buttress roots showing above ground. The tree's bark is a greyish colour, with light and dark spots. Its resin is thick and milk coloured.

The pinnately compound leaves occur in odd numbers, with thin hair, and 6 to 9 buds at intervals. The buds are long and elliptical, approximately by in size. The upper edge shines, and the leaves themselves have pointed bases and tips. The stems of the buds measure . The flowers are small, with short stems, and are perfect. The sheathe is shaped like a five lobed cup and is coloured a greenish-yellow. The corona is egg-shaped and hard, measuring by . There is one stamen, measuring in length. The top of the stamen is round. The pistil is short and thick. with around five white, translucent lobes, some of which contain a flat, bitter tasting seed. The seeds are covered with a thick, clear-white aril that tastes sweet and sour. For consumption, cultivars with small or undeveloped seeds and thick aril are preferred.

Cultivars

200px|thumb|Botanical illustration of L. domesticum leaves, flowers, and fruits, from [[Flora de Filipinas () by the Spanish friar and botanist Manuel Blanco]]

There are numerous cultivars of L. domesticum. Overall, the two most commonly grown cultivars are 'Duku' and 'Langsat'.

  • 'Longkong' (sometimes referred to as 'Duku Langsat') is a natural cross between 'Duku' and 'Langsat'. It bears round to oblong fruits of around long and in diameter, arranged in long clusters of 15 to 25. The tree has an upright growth habit with dark green leaves. It is the sweetest among all varieties, aromatic, having no latex when ripe, and almost seedless with 0 to 1 seeds per fruit. Ripe fruits are around 18 to 20 °Bx after 3 days from harvest.

In the Philippines, the most commonly cultivated cultivars are the 'Paete' and 'Jolo' cultivars. In addition, 'Duku', 'Longkong', and other native cultivars, are also commercially cultivated in the Philippines.

Another variety grown in Indonesia is 'Kokosan' (also known by various other native names, including pisitan, pijetan, and bijitan). It is distinguished by its hairy leaves, as well as the tightly packed dark yellow fruit on its bunches. The fruit tends to be small, with thin skin and little sap; the skin is difficult to remove. To be eaten, the fruit is bitten and the flesh sucked through the hole created,

Lansium domesticum is traditionally reproduced by spreading seedlings, either cultivated or collected from below the tree. However, other sources quote 12 years to first production from seed and no variations. Production often varies from year to year, and depends to some extent on having a dry period to induce flowering. One example of ten trees in Costa Rica about twenty-five years old produced during five years the following weights of salable fruits: 2008: 50 kilos, 2009: 2000 kilos, 2010: 1000 kilos, 2011: 100 kilos, 2012: 1500 kilos. Experiments in the Philippines with grafting where two trees are planted close to each other and then grafted when one to two meters tall to leave twin root systems on a single main trunk have resulted in earlier and less erratic fruit production.

Another common method is by air layering. Although the process requires up to several months,

Lansium domesticum is grown from low grounds up to heights of above sea level, in areas with an average rainfall of a year. The plant can grow and blossom in latosol, yellow podzol, and alluvium.

It has also been introduced to Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, the Maluku Islands, New Guinea, Micronesia, Hawaii, Sri Lanka, India, the Seychelles, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname, among others. The town of Paete, Laguna in the northern Philippines, also holds the annual Paet-Taka-Lanzones Festival every third week of September. The barangay of Concepcion in the city of Talisay, Negros Occidental, where the cultivar 'Concepcion' originates from, also celebrates the fruit in the Maradula Festival (an acronym for Marang, Mangosteen, Rambutan, Durian and Lanzones). Maradula Festival was originally also known as the "Lanzones Festival" in the 1980s, but the name was changed in 2009 to include other local fruit products and to avoid confusion with the Camiguin festival.

In Thailand, an annual Langsat Festival is held in Uttaradit province every September.

See also

  • Lychee
  • Longan
  • Baccaurea macrocarpa (tampoi)
  • Epicharis parasitica: species corresponding with the synonym "Lansium parasiticum"
  • Sandoricum koetjape (santol)
  • Willughbeia angustifolia

References

  • Lansium domesticum at Tree Functional Attributes and Ecological Database (World Agro Forestry)