Santol

Description:

Santol tree and fruit. Very common and popular in the Philippines. The white liquid shown in photo 3 is very sticky but you can wash it off with water. The seeds are inedible as they are very sharp and can get stuck in your digestive system and/or cause internal bleeding. The fruit is sour but is very often eaten in the Philippines as you eat an apple. The tree can reach up to a height of 150 feet. This fruit fell off a tree about 50 feet tall. This fruit was the size of a lemon. They grow to be a little larger than an apple. I cut this fruit open and removed two seeds - the fourth photo. The larger seed on the right is 18 millimeters or 0.7 inches long. Considering this fruit is only half its mature age, the mature seeds would be well over an inch in length.When in the stomach, the coating on the seed is removed, but the seed itself is left undigested. The seed without the coating is very sharp and can get blocked in your digestive system or cut the intestines. One internet article says there are over two hundred operations a year in the Philippines to remove these seeds from people's digestive systems.

Habitat:

In garden

Notes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santol_(fru... http://www.philippines.hvu.nl/fruit3.htm...