Averrhoa
pentranda Blanco
Local
names: Balimbing (Sul.); balimbing (Tag., Bik.); balingbing (Bik., C. Bis.);
balimbin (Tag.); daligan (Ilk.); dalihan (Ibn.); galangan (P. Bis.); galuran
(Ibn.); garahan (Bis.); garulan (Ibn.); malimbin (S. L. Bis.); sirinate
(Ting.).
Balimbing
occurs in a cultivated or semicultivated state throughout the Philippines. It
was introduced from tropical America and is now pantropic in cultivation.
This plant is a small tree growing to a height of 6 meters or less. The leaves are pinnate, about 15 centimeters long. The leaflets are quite smooth. There are usually about 5 pairs of leaflets which are ovate to ovate-lanceolate, the upper ones about 5 centimeters long and the lower ones smaller. The panicles are small, axillary and somewhat bell-shaped 5 to 6 millimeters long. The calyx is reddish purple. The petals are purple to rather bright purple, often margined with white. The fruit is fleshy green or greenish yellow, and usually about 6 centimeters long, with 5 longitudinal, sharp, angular lobes. The seeds are arillate.
The fruit
is fleshy, acid, green or greenish-yellow, and edible. It is eaten with or
without salt rather extensively by Filipinos and the juice is often used for
seasoning. As in kamias the juice is used in washing clothes and removes spot
or stains. The fruit is made also into pickles and sweets. Burkill says that
the flowers are used in salads in Java.
Analyses
of the fruit show it to be a fairly good source of iron but deficient in
calcium. Hermano and Sepulveda report that it is a fair source of vitamin B.
Read adds the fruit also contains vitamin C. According to Correa, the fruit
contains oxalic acid, and potassium oxalate. Sanyal and Ghose say that the
seeds contain an alkaloid, harmaline (C13H14N2O).
According
to Kamel, a decoction of the leaves is good for aphtha and angina. Crevost and
Petelot say that in Tonkin the flowers are considered to have a vermifuge
action. Burkill and Haniff record the crushed leaves or shoots are used by the
Malays as an application for chicken-pox, ringworm, and headache. A decoction
of the leaves and fruit is given to arrest vomiting. Menaut states that the
leaves are applied in fevers.
Regnault
reports that the Chinese and Annamites use the flowers against cutaneous
affections.
The fruit
is laxative, a refrigerant, and an antiscorbutic excites appetite, is a
febrifuge and antidysenteric, and is a sialogogue and antiphlogistic. It is
good remedy for bleeding piles, particularly internal piles. The fruit is also
given in fevers. The fruit will also benefit haematemesis, melaema, and some
other forms of haemorrhage. It is given, in syrup, as a cooling drink in fevers
in the Philippines. Safford states that eating the uncooked fruit causes
hiccoughs. Regnault states that the Chinese and Annamites employ the fruit in
the form of eye-salve against affections of the eyes.
Sanyal and
Ghose report that the drug acts an as a stimulant to the reproductive organs in
both male and the female. In the female it also increases the fluid of milk and
the menstrual fluid. In large doses, it acts as an emmenagogue like ergot, and
produces abortion. It is generally administered in the form of an infusion or
decoction of the crushed seeds through it may also be given in the form of a
tincture. Like Cannabis indica,
it has slight intoxicating properties.
According to Dey, the seeds may be regarded as a narcotic, anodyne, emetic, and emmenagogue. The powder, in doses of ½ to 3 drams, is a good anodyne in asthma, colic, and jaundice, and the watery infusion id similarly useful.