Nephelium meduseum Leenh.

Tree, up to 27 m high, dbh up to 50 cm, with up to 1.20 m high buttresses. Twigs 3-5 mm in diam., tomentellous, fairly early glabrescent. Leaves 2-5-jugate; petiole 2-7 cm long, 1.5-2 mm thick, semiterete; axes puberulous, glabrescent; petiolules 3-12 mm long, broadly shallowly grooved, mostly with a broad but not very strong median rib. Leaflets elliptic, 5-12.5 by 2.5-5 cm, index 2-3, thin-coriaceous to stiff-pergamentaceous, above puberuious along the midrib, mostly early glabrescent, beneath on midrib and nerves rather long-hairy, mainly glabrescent, further glabrous or nearly so; domatia absent; base acute to obtuse, slightly attenuate; sides curved; apex either tapering acuminate with a fairly long, broad, obtuse acumen, or acutely apiculate, or not acuminate at all; midrib above a slender prominulous rib, nerves 0.75-1 cm apart, above slightly sunken, intercalated veins mostly well developed though usually only few per leaflet, veins and veinlets above together finely reticulate, prominulous, beneath veins coarsely reticulate to scalariform, veinlets as above to incon-spicuous Inflorescences terminal. Flowers only known from old ones and the remains under the fruit. Sepals hardly connate. Petals at least 3, 1.6 mm long, claw slender, 1 mm long, blade ovate, 0.7 mm wide, the margin in the basal half of the blade incurved, sparsely woolly but for the apex and the inside of the blade. Disc glabrous. Ovary 2-celled. Fruits ellipsoid to subglobular, 3.25-4 by 2.5-3 c m, densely fulvous puberulous, densely set with filiform, curled appendages, c. 15 mm long, swollen at the base; wall coriaceous, c. 1 mm thick.

Primary mixed dipterocarp forest on hills, ridges, and slopes, on yellow sandy clay; at elevations up to 450 metres.

Uses The sarcotesta is eaten. See Jansen et al. Verheij & Coronel (eds.) Pl. Res. SE Asia (PROSEA Handb.) 2, Edible fruits and nuts 1991 348 .

Can be grown by seedlings.