AbbieLongoria3 at 23:03, 30 September 2025

2025-09-30T23:03:31Z

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{{Short description|Species of tree}}
{{Speciesbox
|image = Dillenia indica, West Bengal, India.jpg
|image2_caption = Leaves, fruits & buds in [[West Bengal]], [[India]]
|image2 = Dillenia indica fruit.jpg
|status = LC
|status_system = IUCN3.1
|status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=Oldfield, S. |date=2020 |title=''Dillenia indica'' |volume=2020 |article-number=e.T61994577A61994579 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T61994577A61994579.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref>
|genus = Dillenia
|species = indica
|authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|L.]]
}}

'''''Dillenia indica''''', commonly known as '''elephant apple'''<ref name="FM">{{cite journal |last1=Hoogland |first1=R.G. |title=Dilleniaceae |date=1972 |url=https://repository.naturalis.nl/pub/532605 |journal=Flora Malesiana |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=141–174 |via=Naturalis Institutional Repository}}</ref>{{rp|171}} or '''ou tenga''',<ref name="grin">{{GRIN | accessdate = 6 May 2019}}</ref> is a species of ''[[Dillenia]]'' (Family [[Dilleniaceae]]) native to China, India, and tropical Asia.<ref name=grin/> It is found in stony river banks.<ref name="FM"/>{{rp|171}}

This species was one of the many first described by [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]] in the [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|10th edition]] of his ''[[Systema Naturae]]'' in 1759.<ref>{{cite book |last= Linnaeus |first=Carl |author-link= Carl Linnaeus |title= Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis |publisher= (Laurentii Salvii) |location= [[Stockholm|Holmiae]] |volume= 2 |edition= 10th revised |language= Latin |year= 1758 |page= 1082 |url= https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/587001}}</ref>

== Description ==
[[File:Albinistic Dillenia indica in Pakke Tiger Reserve.JPG|right|thumb|Albinistic ''Dillenia indica'' in Pakke Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh, India]]
It is an [[evergreen]] large [[shrub]] or small to medium-sized tree growing to 30 m tall, its trunk is crooked and irregular. The [[leaf|leaves]] are 15–36 cm long, occasionally to 75 cm (30 inches)<ref> Turner and Wasson, loc.cit.</ref> with a conspicuously corrugated surface with impressed parallel veins.<ref name="FM"/>{{rp|171}}<ref name="rhs">{{cite book |editor-last=Huxley |editor-first=A. |date=1992 |title=New RHS Dictionary of Gardening |url= |location= |publisher=Macmillan |page= |ISBN=0-333-47494-5}}</ref>{{page needed|date=December 2015}}<ref name="fp">Flora of Pakistan: [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=5&taxon_id=200013874 ''Dillenia indica'']</ref>

The [[flower]]s are large, 15–20 cm diameter with five white or creamy yellow petals. They have two sets of stamens: outer straight stamens 13–15 mm long and inner bent yellow stamens 20–22 mm long.<ref name="FM"/>{{rp|171}}<ref name="rhs"/><ref name="fp"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Turner |first1=R.J. Jr. |title=Botanica |last2=Wasson |first2=Ernie |date=1999 |publisher=Barnes & Noble |ISBN=0-7607-1642-0 |location=not given |page=307}}</ref>

Its fruits are large, round and greenish yellow consisting of 15 carpels together having a diameter of 5–12 cm. Each [[Gynoecium|carpel]] has five seeds embedded in an edible but fibrous and glutinous pulp.<ref name="FM"/>{{rp|171}}<ref name="rhs"/><ref name="fp"/>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="160px">
File:Dillenia indica Flower.JPG|Flower of ''D. indica''.
</gallery>

== Ecology ==
The name ''elephant apple'' comes from the fact that it produces a large hard edible fruit<ref name="rhs" /> which is accessible only to the [[megaherbivore]]s in the wild like [[elephants]]. A study in the [[Buxa Tiger Reserve]] by ecologists Sekar & Sukumar has shown that [[Asian elephants]] appear to have a particular fondness for the fruits of ''D. indica'', and are hence an important seed disperser for this tree. With the prospect of [[extinction]] of the elephants this tree has developed a back-up system, whereby its hard fruits that were only accessible to megaherbivores, slowly soften on the [[forest floor]] through the dry season to allow access to successively smaller animals such as [[macaque]]s, [[rodents]] and [[squirrels]]. Seeds from both old and soft fruits are able to [[germinate]] well, enabling the persistence of this tree to be independent of the survival of its major megaherbivore disperser.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sekar |first1=Nitin |last2=Sukumar |first2=Raman |last3=Leishman |first3=Michelle |title=Waiting for Gajah: an elephant mutualist's contingency plan for an endangered megafaunal disperser |journal=Journal of Ecology |volume=101 |issue=6 |year=2013 |pages=1379–88 |doi=10.1111/1365-2745.12157 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

== Uses ==
[[File:Elephant apple pickle.jpg|thumb|left|Elephant apple (Dillenia indica) pickle, Kolkata, West Bengal, India]]
The fruit pulp is sour and used in [[Indian cuisine]] in curries, jam ([[ouu khatta]]), and jellies.<ref name=rhs/>

Because it is a main source of food for elephants, monkeys and [[deer]], collection of fruit from the core areas of the forest is prohibited. Commercial sale of the fruit is also prohibited, in an effort to help keep the food-chain system of the forest from dismantling totally.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_elephants-and-villagers-fight-over-pickle-fruit_1104897|newspaper=DNA |author=Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri |date=21 June 2007 |title=Elephants and villagers fight over pickle fruit}}</ref>

Its branches are used to make good firewood.<ref name=rhs/><ref name=fp/>

== References ==
{{Commons category|Dillenia indica}}
{{Wikispecies|Dillenia indica}}
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q48334}}

[[Category:Dillenia|indica]]
[[Category:Trees of China]]
[[Category:Flora of tropical Asia]]
[[Category:Plants described in 1753]]
[[Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]

Dillenia indica - Revision history

AbbieLongoria3 at 23:03, 30 September 2025