Plant · P-499

Rambutan

Nephelium lappaceum

Rambutan is an evergreen tree that grows a sweet, juicy, translucent fruit inside a spiny red husk - the hairy fruit that gives the tree its name. The aril is eaten fresh or cooked, and the bitter seed can be roasted or pressed for a fat similar to cacao butter, but the spiny husk itself contains a toxic saponin and should never be dropped where livestock or poultry can reach it. It needs year-round warmth above freezing, heavy and fairly constant rainfall, and high humidity, so it struggles wherever winter brings frost or the dry season runs long; grafted trees can be kept to container size and bear within two years, while a seedling tree grows past 60 feet and takes six to eight years to fruit.