File:Strawberry tree (397468825).jpg

Common name: Jamaica Cherry, Panama Cherry, Strawberry tree, Jam tree, Cotton Candy berry, Calabura, Kewni केव्नी (Marathi), ten pazham தேன் பழம் (Tamil)

Botanical name: Muntingia calabura Family: Elaeocarpaceae (Jamaica cherry family)

Origin: Tropical America, Pacific islands

This is a very fast-growing tree of slender proportions, reaching 25 to 40 ft in height, with spreading, nearly horizontal branches. The leaves are evergreen, alternate, lanceolate or oblong, long-pointed at the apex, oblique at the base. The flowers with 5 green sepals and 5 white petals and many prominent yellow stamens last only one day, the petals falling in the afternoon.

Flowers resemble strawberry bloom, hence the name of the tree. The abundant fruits are round, 3/8 to 1/2 in (1-1.25 cm) wide, with red or sometimes yellow, smooth, thin, tender skin and light-brown, soft, juicy pulp, with very sweet, musky, somewhat fig-like flavor, filled with exceedingly minute, yellowish seeds, too fine to be noticed in eating. Fruit taste like cotton candy. The fruits are sold in Mexican markets.

The tree has the reputation of thriving with no care in poor soils and it does well in both acid and alkaline locations. It is drought-resistant but not salt-tolerant. Wherever it grows, fruits are borne nearly all year. The leaf infusion is drunk as a tea-like beverage. The flowers are said to possess antiseptic properties. An infusion of the flowers is valued as an antispasmodic. It is taken to relieve headache and the first symptoms of a cold.

Seeds spread by birds and fruit bats. Fruits contain hundreds of tiny seeds. Seeds germinate only with light.

Courtesy: - Flowers of India - TopTropicals - Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR)