Cambuca, Brazil sarcaulus
Sarcaulus brasiliensis

Family: Sapotaceae

What it is like

A tree. It grows to 20-30 m high. The trunk can be 35 cm across. It does not have buttresses. The bark is smooth or slightly scaly and pale grey. The young shoots have soft hairs. The bark is whitish-brown and smooth. The leaves are arranged in spirals or alternate. The leaves are 10-24 cm long by 2.3-9.4 cm wide. They are narrowly oval to sword shaped. There are 8-12 pairs of secondary veins. The leaf stalk is 0.2-1.3 cm long. The flowers are of one sex with both sexes on the one plant. The flowers are in tufts of 1-8 flowers in the axils of leaves and below leaves. The flowers are yellowish-white. The fruit stalk is 1-1.5 cm long. The fruit is 1.8-3.2 cm long. The fruit are yellow. They are almost round or oval. The fruit are edible. There are 1-2 seeds inside. These are 1.2-1.7 cm long. There is a sticky white pulp around the seeds.

Where it is found

It is a tropical plant. They grow in lowland rainforest. It can be on land which floods occasionally as well as on non flooded land. It grows up to 750 m altitude.

Countries/locations it is found in

Amazon, Bolivia, Brazil, Central America, Colombia, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guianas, Guyana, Panama, Peru, South America (country/location of origin), Suriname

How it is used for food

Edible parts

Fruit

How it is grown

Plants are grown from seeds. The seeds are collected from ripe fruit that have fallen. The fruit are put in piles to allow them to decompose so that the seeds can be easily removed. The seeds are washed under running water and need to be planted fresh. Seedlings emerge in 2-3 months.

Its other names

Local names

Cambuca, Guajara, Guajara do igapo, Ikum kamwi, Menegoe, Meningowe, Meyguhue, Sacha wayusa, Ujukam yaas, Wai

Synonyms

Achras brassiliensis Willdenow ex Steudel; Chrysophyllum brasiliense A. de Candolle; Chrysophyllum macrophyllum Martius; Chrysophyllum brasiliense var. minus Miquel; Sarcaulis brasiliensis subsp. brasiliensis; Sarcaulus macrophyllus (Martius) Radlkofer;