are you able to tell them apart

- the rambai and the langsat?

tree at dairy farm nature park

today, i came across a tree, at the edge of the new dairy farm nature park car-park, the one nearer to petir road. it was laden with young fruit. at first, i thought it could be a langsat tree. then, i decided it could also be a rambai tree.

if you explore the lanes of lim chu kang, you will come across both the langsat and the rambai trees. the rambai trees - the fruit being inferior to the langsat - can be found growing on both sides of lane 5a. the langsat trees are more numerous and they can be found mainly along lanes 3 and 6.

rambai

langsat

it will take an experienced horticulturist to differentiate between the two cousins. to a layman, a langsat and a rambai look no different from each other, the tree as well as the produce. i had thought that they belonged to the same meliaceae family. but i have been mistaken; the rambai belongs to the euphorbiaceae family.

langsat

rambai

langsat

rambai

the rambai tree is normally bigger than the langsat tree. although it produces more fruit, it is not as desirable because of its sour taste. the unripe fruit is green and the ripe fruit is yellowish green. unlike the langsat, which always has five segments, the rambai fruit usually has between one and three segments; three being the majority. of course, there are the rare rambai fruit which has five segments.

lest you are thinking of enjoying the langsat fruit at lanes of lim chu kang, remember they are not as big or as sweet and tasty as the commerically produced ones which are selling at about $2.50/kilo.

there are other similar fruits in this family, like the duku and the longkong (the thai version of the langsat). the duku is bigger, the size of a golf-ball, and its skin is much thicker. it is golden brown in colour. the longkong is usually sold in bunches, with the stem intact.

to make a comparison between (duku) langsat and longkong, i bought a stem from sheng siong supermarket. the langsat from thailand is priced higher than the malaysian's. verdict: i still prefer the langsat from malaysia. the langsat is normally sweeter and tastier than the longkong.