Thursday, September 29, 2011

Life in Malaysia: Cherries

Sakura...sakura....no? Not sakura? OK, this is the village cherry blossom.
Close up of the ripe and green fruits. yummm....
Heaps on the ground. Guess the neighbourhood doesn't have enough birdies or marauding kids.
The tree's location? At the site of Kuala Trengganu's Masjid Raja Bukit Besar construction.

More close up. The ripe fruit looks kinds translucent, eh? It's sweet...but not as nice as the cherries Down Under.
Extracted from Uncle Wiki:
"Muntingia calabura, the sole species in the genus Muntingia, is a flowering plant native to southern Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and western South America south to Peru and Bolivia. Common names include (English) Jamaican cherry, Panama berry, Singapore cherry, Strawberry tree; (Spanish) bolaina, yamanaza, cacaniqua, capulín blanco, nigua, niguito, memizo or memiso; (Indonesia) kersen; and (Filipino) aratilis, aratiles, manzanitas and sarisa.
It is a small tree 7-12 meters tall with tiered and slightly drooping branches. It has serrated leaves 2.5-15 cm long and 1-6.5 cm wide. The flowers are small ,white and slightly malodorous. It gives rise to 1-1.5 cm light red fruit. The fruit is edible, sweet and juicy, and contains a large number of tiny (0.5 mm) yellow seeds.
It is a pioneer species that thrives in poor soil, able to tolerate acidic and alkaline conditions and drought. Its seeds are dispersed by birds and fruit bats. It is cultivated for its edible fruit, and has become naturalised in some other parts of the tropics, including southeastern Asia. As a pioneer plant, it could help condition the soil and make it habitable to other plants. However, it might also be considered as an invasive species since it might out-compete indigenous plants.
"

Angelina's note: Mama said she used to have one of these trees in the backyard of her childhood home. The birdies will come in droves to feast on the ripe fruits. But there were no birdies when I visited this particular tree. That explains the large amount wasted on the ground. purrr....meow!

40 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh how disappointing for you Angelina, keep an eye out I'm sure the birdies will be back!! =^..^=

Kjelle Bus aka Charlie Rascal said...

Hope the birdies will come back so you can chase them a bit :)

CATachresis said...

Angelina, I think the birdies are very wise!

Tamago said...

It's not sakura but kind of sakura? It looks very different from regular cherry blossom, but very beautiful!
The fruit looks sweet :-) I'm sorry the birdies were not there. I hope they will come back when you visit there in the future.

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Kitcaboodles,
I waited and waited but to no avail. Then Mama took me to the markets. purrr...meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Kjelle Bus,
I haven't chased birdies for ages. purrr...meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Austin,
And why are you on the birdies' side? purrr...meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Tamago-san,
The fruits are sweet but not for a cat. I'd rather feast on the birdies. purrr...meow!

meowwmania said...

haa kat rmh aunty dulu ada pokok ceri nih, tp dah tebang dah sbb daunnya byk gugur leceh nak sapu huhuu

Wan Sharif said...

Di Duyong kita panggil pohon kerkuk.. dahannya agak rapuh. Buah kerkut menjadi kegemaran budak budak.
Dulu ada satu lagi buah kerkuk, di panggil kerkuk malam.. lebih besar dan kena getel supaya lembut sebelum di masukkan ke mulut..
Lama doh ambe dok jumpa kerkut malam.. mudah mudahan belum pupus lah hendaknya.

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Meoww,
Kenapalah tebang...semua pokok pun macam tu. Buahnya boleh buat jem kata Mama. purrr...meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Ayoh Wang,
Dad also use the same name for this fruit. Do you know how it got that name kerkuk? purrr...meow!

Rosmawati Yusof said...

Pokok ini senang tumbuh, .... rendang, ada bunga2, ada buah2nya... so, bird pun mmg suker bertenggek kat pokok ini....

Sandy said...

Whoaaa...this is weird ! When I was a kid, me and my friends ate lots of keres (in Surabaya it's keres) like those :D , if you squeeze it, it has this liquidy gooey juice in it . We never even bothered washing them before eating, tsk tsk...

Ellen Whyte said...

We're wishing you birdies! And our car is just The Beetle...

Aishah said...

As young as I am and have lived in Malaysia all that short time, I had never noticed these cherries. The red can be pretty. Thank you for sharing Angelina.

Hang Tuah berSpenda Getah said...

I feel off a cherry tree when I was 11 and broke my wrist. Was absent from school for 2 weeks

Lili said...

Angelina...me miss you and your gang so much :'( Er...terkeluar tajuk ek? Ok, I'll come up with an entry about cherries too...hikhik...and if you must know that was what I've been up to all Syawal long, hence, my MIA! :D

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Rosmawati,
Masalahnya, buah sampai berterabur kat bawah tu maknanya burung pun tak singgah kat situ. purrr...meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Tante Sandy,
Did you get gooey tongue as well? But I still prefer the cherries with the stone inside. purrr...meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Au, Target & Guido,
I love that The Beetle is pink. We only have pink seats in Kimi. purrr...meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Aishah,
I forgive you because you're still so young. purrr....meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Hang Tuah Berspenda Getah,
Obviously you haven't learned flying then. purrr....meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Lili,
Itulah, MIA pulak ye. Welcome back, from wherever you were. purrr...meow!

LP said...

Could you make jam with it? Or pie? Or other sweets?


the critters in The Cottage

Cheqna said...

No birdies, no kids and no Cheqna..I love those cherries..hehe..

:-)

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Cottage Felines,
Well, I guess if we have a tubful of it, we can experiment with it. Mama said the texture is akin to cranberry or blueberry. So, anything we can do with those berries, we may do so with these cherries. purrr....meow!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Cheqna is a birdie...Cheqna is a birdie.... purrr...meow!

ninotaziz said...

Angelina,
I think it is high time you drive your Mama over to Aunty's house. I planted two trees behind the house and they are about 12 feet tall. Ikesha has cherries every now and then, gathering them in a cup and munching away with glee.

Normally, just as Aunty finishes Subuh prayers, the birds are chirping madly behind the house. Must be the cherries...

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Ikesha!!!! Purrrlease save some for me! purrr....meow!

ninotaziz said...

By the way, Aunty just got rid of our petai tree. It looked so pathetic after I saw the beautiful trees in your blog.

Will try to find a sytronger taller petai tree. Planted next to the cherry tree, will we have sweet petai? Urrgghhhh!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Ninot,
Thing is, you may get stinky cherries instead. uuurrrggghhhh! purrr...meow!

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Who is the lovely lady in blue posing under the tree?

Cat-from-Sydney said...

MKG dear,
That is...you know who...! Take a guess. purr...meow!

one of Fae's humans said...

interesting tree and fruit. sorry to see so much of the fruit wasted, though.

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Fae's human,
Could you send over some birdies from Brissy? purrr...meow!

Sandy said...

haha you bet, these cherries are a little ickier compared to the normal cherries, but kids love them. Looks like kids nowadays prefer more expensive fruit, and birds are becoming more high class too so the keres tree gets neglected.

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Tante Sandy,
Yeah...they don't know what they're missing. purrr....meow!

~CovertOperations78~ said...

I remember these Roadside Cherries! We used to pick them from the quarry road during cross-country runs. My mum won't let us eat them on account of the worms. I learned it the hard way. Birds, tree shrews and macaques love these.

Cat-from-Sydney said...

CO78,
I waited for the birdies. A long time. But none came. purrr...meow!