Jambul
Encyclopedia
Jambul is an evergreen tropical tree
in the flowering plant
family Myrtaceae
. Jambul is native to Bangladesh
, India
, Nepal
, Pakistan
, Sri Lanka
, and Indonesia
. The name of the fruit is sometimes mistranslated as blackberry
, which is a different fruit in an unrelated family.
Jambul is also known as jambu/jambula/jamboola, Java plum, jamun, jaam/kalojaam, jamblang, jambolan, black plum, Damson plum, Duhat plum, Jambolan plum, or Portuguese plum. Malabar plum may also refer to other species of Syzygium
. In Tamil
, this fruit is called Naaval Pazham or Navva Pazham.
The tree was introduced to Florida
, USA in 1911 by the USDA
, and is also now commonly grown in Suriname
and Trinidad and Tobago
. In Brazil
, where it was introduced from India during Portuguese colonization, it has dispersed spontaneously in the wild in some places, as its fruits are eagerly sought by various native birds such as thrushes, tanager
s and the Great Kiskadee
. This species is considered an invasive in Hawaii
, USA.
A fairly fast growing species, it can reach heights of up to 30 m and can live more than 100 years. Its dense foliage provides shade and is grown just for its ornamental value. The wood is strong and is water resistant. Because of this it is used in railway sleepers and to install motors in well
s. It is sometimes used to make cheap furniture and village dwellings though it is relatively hard to work on.
Jambul trees start flowering from March to April. The flower
s of jambul are fragrant and small, about 5 mm in diameter. The fruit
s develop by May or June and resemble large berries
. The fruit is oblong
, ovoid, starts green and turns pink to shining crimson
black as it matures. A variant of the tree produces white coloured fruit. The fruit has a combination of sweet, mildly sour and astringent
flavour and tends to colour the tongue purple. The seed is also used in various alternative healing systems like Ayurveda
(to control diabetes, for example.), Unani
and Chinese medicine for digestive ailments. The leaves and bark are used for controlling blood pressure and gingivitis
. Wine
and vinegar
are also made from the fruit. It has a high source in vitamin A and vitamin C.
Jambul has been spread overseas from India by Indian emigrants and at present is common in former tropical British colonies.
subsisted on the fruit in the forest for 14 years during his exile from Ayodhya. Because of this, many Hindus regard jambul as a 'fruit of the gods,' especially in Gujarat, India
, where it is known locally as jamboon.
Lord Krishna
has been described as having skin the color of Jamun. In Hindu mythology several protagonists have been described as having the color of jambul.
:जांभूळ) leaves are used in marriage pandal
decorations.
(also Auvayar) , a prominent female poets/ethicist/political activist of Sangam period (Tamil literature), and Naaval Pazham(Jambu) in Tamil Nadu. Auvaiyar, believing to have achieved everything that is to be achieved, said to have been pondering over her retirement from Tamil
literary work while resting under Naaval Pazham tree. But she was met with and was wittily jousted by a disguised Lord Murugan (regarded as one of the guardian deities of Tamil language
), who later revealed himself and made her realize that there is still a lot more to be done and learnt. Following this awakening, Auvaiyar is believed to have undertaken a fresh set of literary works, targeted at children. These works, even after a millennium,are often among the very first literature that children are exposed to in Tamil Nadu schools.
. Besides the fruits, wood from Neredu tree is used in Andhra Pradesh to make bullock cart wheels and other agricultural equipment. Culturally, beautiful eyes are compared to this fruit. In the great epic of India Mahabharatha Sri Krishnas'[Lord Vishnu] body color is compared to this fruit as well.
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
in the flowering plant
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
family Myrtaceae
Myrtaceae
The Myrtaceae or Myrtle family are a family of dicotyledon plants, placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, clove, guava, feijoa, allspice, and eucalyptus belong here. All species are woody, with essential oils, and flower parts in multiples of four or five...
. Jambul is native to Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, and Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. The name of the fruit is sometimes mistranslated as blackberry
Blackberry
The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by any of several species in the Rubus genus of the Rosaceae family. The fruit is not a true berry; botanically it is termed an aggregate fruit, composed of small drupelets. The plants typically have biennial canes and perennial roots. Blackberries and...
, which is a different fruit in an unrelated family.
Jambul is also known as jambu/jambula/jamboola, Java plum, jamun, jaam/kalojaam, jamblang, jambolan, black plum, Damson plum, Duhat plum, Jambolan plum, or Portuguese plum. Malabar plum may also refer to other species of Syzygium
Syzygium
Syzygium is a genus of flowering plants that belongs to the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. The genus comprises about 1100 species, and has a native range that extends from Africa and Madagascar through southern Asia east through the Pacific...
. In Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
, this fruit is called Naaval Pazham or Navva Pazham.
The tree was introduced to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, USA in 1911 by the USDA
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
, and is also now commonly grown in Suriname
Suriname
Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...
and Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
. In Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, where it was introduced from India during Portuguese colonization, it has dispersed spontaneously in the wild in some places, as its fruits are eagerly sought by various native birds such as thrushes, tanager
Tanager
The tanagers comprise the bird family Thraupidae, in the order Passeriformes. The family has an American distribution.There were traditionally about 240 species of tanagers, but the taxonomic treatment of this family's members is currently in a state of flux...
s and the Great Kiskadee
Great Kiskadee
The Great Kiskadee, Pitangus sulphuratus, is a passerine bird. It is a large tyrant flycatcher; sometimes its genus Pitangus is considered monotypic, with the Lesser Kiskadee The Great Kiskadee, Pitangus sulphuratus, is a passerine bird. It is a large tyrant flycatcher; sometimes its genus Pitangus...
. This species is considered an invasive in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, USA.
Description
A fairly fast growing species, it can reach heights of up to 30 m and can live more than 100 years. Its dense foliage provides shade and is grown just for its ornamental value. The wood is strong and is water resistant. Because of this it is used in railway sleepers and to install motors in well
Water well
A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...
s. It is sometimes used to make cheap furniture and village dwellings though it is relatively hard to work on.
Jambul trees start flowering from March to April. The flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s of jambul are fragrant and small, about 5 mm in diameter. The fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s develop by May or June and resemble large berries
Berry
The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes are an example. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels with a thin covering and fleshy interiors....
. The fruit is oblong
Rectangle
In Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is any quadrilateral with four right angles. The term "oblong" is occasionally used to refer to a non-square rectangle...
, ovoid, starts green and turns pink to shining crimson
Crimson
Crimson is a strong, bright, deep red color. It is originally the color of the dye produced from a scale insect, Kermes vermilio, but the name is now also used as a generic term for those slightly bluish-red colors that are between red and rose; besides crimson itself, these colors include...
black as it matures. A variant of the tree produces white coloured fruit. The fruit has a combination of sweet, mildly sour and astringent
Astringent
An astringent substance is a chemical compound that tends to shrink or constrict body tissues, usually locally after topical medicinal application. The word "astringent" derives from Latin adstringere, meaning "to bind fast"...
flavour and tends to colour the tongue purple. The seed is also used in various alternative healing systems like Ayurveda
Ayurveda
Ayurveda or ayurvedic medicine is a system of traditional medicine native to India and a form of alternative medicine. In Sanskrit, words , meaning "longevity", and , meaning "knowledge" or "science". The earliest literature on Indian medical practice appeared during the Vedic period in India,...
(to control diabetes, for example.), Unani
Unani
Unani-tibb or Unani Medicine also spelled Yunani Medicine means "Greek Medicine", and is a form of traditional medicine widely practiced in South Asia...
and Chinese medicine for digestive ailments. The leaves and bark are used for controlling blood pressure and gingivitis
Gingivitis
Gingivitis is a term used to describe non-destructive periodontal disease. The most common form of gingivitis is in response to bacterial biofilms adherent to tooth surfaces, termed plaque-induced gingivitis, and is the most common form of periodontal disease...
. Wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
and vinegar
Vinegar
Vinegar is a liquid substance consisting mainly of acetic acid and water, the acetic acid being produced through the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. Commercial vinegar is produced either by fast or slow fermentation processes. Slow methods generally are used with traditional...
are also made from the fruit. It has a high source in vitamin A and vitamin C.
Jambul has been spread overseas from India by Indian emigrants and at present is common in former tropical British colonies.
Nutrients and Phytochemicals
The leaf composition is shown in the tables below.| Java Plum Leaf | |
|---|---|
| Compound | Percent |
| Crude Protein | 9.1 |
| Fat | 4.3 |
| Crude Fiber | 17.0 |
| Ash | 6.0 |
| Calcium | 1.3 |
| Phosphorus | 0.19 |
| Source: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/jambolan.html | |
Cultural & Religious Significance
According to Hindu tradition, RamaRama
Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...
subsisted on the fruit in the forest for 14 years during his exile from Ayodhya. Because of this, many Hindus regard jambul as a 'fruit of the gods,' especially in Gujarat, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, where it is known locally as jamboon.
Lord Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
has been described as having skin the color of Jamun. In Hindu mythology several protagonists have been described as having the color of jambul.
In Maharashtra culture
In Maharashtra, jambul (locally known as jambhul MarathiMarathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
:जांभूळ) leaves are used in marriage pandal
Pandal
A pandal is fabricated structure, either temporary or permanent, in a religious ceremonies including weddings.It is derived from Tamil...
decorations.
Ancient Tamil culture
There is a very famous legend that is associated with AuvaiyarAuvaiyar
The Avvaiyars "respectable women" was the title of more than one poet who was active during different periods of Tamil literature. The Avvaiyar were some of the most famous and important female poets of the Tamil canon. Abithana Chintamani states that there were three female poets titled...
(also Auvayar) , a prominent female poets/ethicist/political activist of Sangam period (Tamil literature), and Naaval Pazham(Jambu) in Tamil Nadu. Auvaiyar, believing to have achieved everything that is to be achieved, said to have been pondering over her retirement from Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
literary work while resting under Naaval Pazham tree. But she was met with and was wittily jousted by a disguised Lord Murugan (regarded as one of the guardian deities of Tamil language
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
), who later revealed himself and made her realize that there is still a lot more to be done and learnt. Following this awakening, Auvaiyar is believed to have undertaken a fresh set of literary works, targeted at children. These works, even after a millennium,are often among the very first literature that children are exposed to in Tamil Nadu schools.
In Telugu culture
This tree is called Neredu(నేరేడు) in TeluguTelugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
. Besides the fruits, wood from Neredu tree is used in Andhra Pradesh to make bullock cart wheels and other agricultural equipment. Culturally, beautiful eyes are compared to this fruit. In the great epic of India Mahabharatha Sri Krishnas'[Lord Vishnu] body color is compared to this fruit as well.