Langsat, Lansa, Lanzon
Lansium domesticum

Family: Meliaceae

What it is like

Native to Southeast Asia, Lansium domesticum or otherwise known in various common names such as Langsat, Lansa, Lanzon, Lanzones, is a tropical tree of about 30 m in height and 75 cm in diameter. The bark is gray in color with light and dark spots. The hairy leaves are pinnately compound. Flowers are small with short stems, and often hang from large branches or the trunk. The fruits can be elliptical, oval, or round, pale yellow when ripe, and forms a long drooping clusters of 25 fruits per cluster. When ripe, fruits develop a brown scurf on its thin skin. It is eaten fresh, made into candies, preserved in syrup, and processed into wine. The resin is non-toxic and used against diarrhea and intestinal spasms. Dried pericarp are used in the treatment of diarrhea, malaria, and fever. The bark is poulticed on stings of scorpions. Bask decoction is used for dysentery and malaria. Dried peel is burned to repel mosquitoes and as incense. The wood is used for house posts, rafters, tool handles, and small utensils. The plant is not tolerant to drought, slow-growing, and shallow-rooted. It is grown by seeds or by budding. An arrow poison is made from the fruit peel and tree bark.

Lansium domesticum is an evergreen Tree growing to 15 m (49ft) by 12 m (39ft) at a slow rate. See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 10 and is frost tender. The flowers are pollinated by Insects. Suitable for: medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: mildly acid, neutral and basic (mildly alkaline) soils and can grow in very acid and very alkaline soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers moist soil.

Height (m): 15

Where it is found

Rainforests and humid river valleys.

E. Asia - Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia.

Conservation Status: This taxon has not yet been assessed

Countries/locations it is found in

Asia, Australia, Burma, Cambodia, Central America, China, East Timor, Fiji, Hawaii, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pacific, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Puerto Rico, SE Asia, Singapore, South America, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Thailand, Timor-Leste, USA, Vietnam,

How it is used

Food

Rating: 4

Fruit - raw or cooked. Juicy, aromatic and subacid. As well as being eaten out of hand, they can be candied, preserves in syrup etc. The fruits are borne in clusters of 2 - 30 and are about 37mm in diameter. Each fruit contains 5 or 6 segments of aromatic, white, translucent, juicy flesh, with 1 - 3 relatively large and very bitter seeds in each fruit. These seeds can sometimes cling very tightly to the flesh and can then impart their bitterness to the fruit. The peel of the langsat is easily removed and the flesh is commonly eaten out-of-hand or served as dessert, and may be cooked in various ways. Varieties with much latex are best dipped into boiling water to eliminate the gumminess before peeling. The peeled, seedless or seeded fruits are canned in syrup or sometimes candied.

Medicine

Rating: 2

The resin is non-toxic and administered to halt diarrhoea and intestinal spasms. The pulverized seed is employed as a febrifuge and vermifuge. The bark is poulticed on scorpion stings. An astringent bark decoction is taken as a treatment for dysentery and malaria. Leaves may be combined with the bark in preparing the decoction. The leaf juice is used as eye-drops to dispel inflammation.

Antidiarrhoeal: Provides symptomatic relief for diarrhoea. Also see Astringent.

Astringent: Produces contraction in living tissue, reducing the flow of secretions and discharges of blood, mucus, diarrhoea etc.

Dysentery: Used in treating dysentery - an infection of the intestines that causes diarrhoea containing blood or mucus.

Febrifuge: Reduces fevers.

Malaria: Treats malaria - an acute febrile illness caused by Plasmodium parasites spread to people through the bites of mosquitos.

Ophthalmic: Treats eye complaints.

Stings: Used in the treatment of stings and insect bites.

Vermifuge: Expels and kills internal parasites.

Other

Rating: 3

Small shade tree. Street tree in high rainfall areas. Backyard tree. Specimen. Agroforestry Uses: The tree is used in reforestation of hilly areas. Other Uses The peel is reportedly high in tannin. The fresh peel contains 0.2% of a light-yellow volatile oil, from the dried peel, a dark, semi-liquid oleoresin composed of 0.17 % volatile oil and 22% resin is obtained. The dried peel is burned in Java, the aromatic smoke serving as a mosquito repellent and as incense in the rooms of sick people. Wood tar, derived by distillation, is employed to blacken the teeth. The wood is light-brown, medium-hard, fine-grained, tough, elastic and durable, weighing 840 kg/ cu m. It is utilized in Java for house posts, rafters, tool handles and small utensils.

Insecticide: Kills insects.

Tannin: An astringent substance obtaied from plants, it is used medicinally, as a dye and mordant, stabilizer in pesticide etc.

Wood: A list of the trees and shrubs that are noted for having useful wood.

Food Forest: Plants for Edible Forest Gardens and Food Forests.

How it is grown

Langsat is an ultra-tropical plant. It is a tree of tropical lowland forest and even in its native range it cannot be grown at elevations above 650 - 750 metres. The temperature range for growth is reported to be 12 - 40°c with the optimum between 20 - 35°c. It needs a humid atmosphere, plenty of moisture and will not tolerate long dry seasons. The annual rainfall range for growth is reported to be 1,000 - 3,000mm with the optimum between 1,400 - 2,200mm. It can cope with a dry season, if shade and moisture supply are adequate. In Java, for example, the tree grows in areas with 6 - 12 wet months if there is over 100 mm rainfall monthly. Plants can tolerate full sun, but some shade is beneficial especially during the early years. Grows best in a slightly acid, humus-rich, well-drained, fertile soil. Dislikes heavy soils. Prefers a pH in the range 6 - 6.5, tolerating 5.5 - 7.5. A slow-growing plant, the seedlings take 12 - 20 years before they bear their first crop. Trees do not always grow and fruit well outside Asia. There are successful commercial orchards in Surinam, though the plant has been unfruitful in Honduras. It succeeds in Trinidad and Puerto Rico. In the Philippines, a productive tree averages 1,000 fruits per year, where it is grown in half shade interplanted with coconut. There are two distinct botanical varieties; var. Pubescens, the typical wild langsat which is a rather slender, open tree with hairy branchlets and nearly round, thick-skinned fruits having much milky latex and var. Domesticum, called the duku, doekoe, or dookoo, which is a more robust tree, broad-topped and densely foliaged with conspicuously-veined leaflets; the fruits, borne few to a cluster, are oblong-ovoid or ellipsoid, with thin, brownish skin, only faintly aromatic and containing little or no milky latex. The former is often referred to as the wild type but both varieties are cultivated and show considerable range of form, size and quality. There are desirable types in both groups. Some small fruits are completely seedless and fairly sweet. Flower Time: Pale Yellow White/Near White. Bloom Color: Pale Yellow White/Near White. Spacing: 20-30 ft. (6-9 m).

Propagating it: Langsats are commonly grown from seeds, which must be planted within 1-2 days after removal from the fruit. Cleft-, side- and approach-grafting give good results. The budwood should be mature but not old, 6.5-9 cm long, 6-20 mm thick, and it is joined to rootstock of the same diameter about 6.5-10 cm above the soil

Best place to grow:

Habit: Tree

Hardiness: 11-12

Growth: Slow

Soil: Medium, heavy (clay)

Shade: Semi-shade, no shade

Moisture: Moist

Things to keep in mind

An arrow poison is made from the fruit peel and the bark of the tree. Both possess a toxic property, lansium acid, which, on injection, arrests heartbeat in frogs. The seed contains a minute amount of an unnamed alkaloid and two bitter, toxic principles. (Parts of plant are poisonous if ingested)

Its other names

Local names

Langsat, Lansa, Lanzon, Lanzone, Lansa, Leang sat, Kokosan, Duku-langsat, Lansones, Boboa, Buahan, Longkong, Bonbon, Bongko, Bongkong, Bijitan, Pitisan, Langsek, Lasak, Lanseh, Ayer-ayer, Bejetlan, Laang-saat, arbol-do-lanza, bòn-bon, duku, duku-langsat, langsat, langsep, lansibaum, lansium, lansones, lanzones, lanzón, longkong, árbol de lanza.

Synonyms

Aglaia dookoo Griff. Aglaia aquea (Jacq.) Kosterm. Aglaia domestica (Corrêa) Pellegr. Aglaia intrica