Skip to main content

Kepel (Stelechocarpus burahol)

Dlium Kepel (Stelechocarpus burahol)

Kepel (Stelechocarpus burahol) is a species of plant in the Annonaceae, an upright tree, hardwood, evergreen, stems with asymmetrical bumps, producing table fruit which is the identity flora of Yogyakarta Province and is favored by the princesses of the palaces in Java where it is believed to cause sweat fragrant and urine is odorless.

S. burahol does not shed leaves simultaneously, 25 m tall, regular crown and dome-shaped tapering upwards with horizontal branches. Stem diameter up to 40 cm, dark brown-gray to black in color and typically covered with many large bumps.





Leaves are oval to lanceolate in shape, 12-27 cm long, 5-9 cm wide, dark green, hairless, thin and shiny. Petioles are up to 1.5 cm long. The leaves appear simultaneously changing from pale pink to purplish red before turning again to brilliant green. The canopy is cylindrical with many lateral branches arranged systematically.

The flowers are unisexual, appear on protrusions on the stem and are green then turn white. Male flowers are located on the upper stem and on old branches, gathered in 8-16 flowers and 1 cm in diameter. Female flowers appear at the base of the stem and are 3 cm in diameter.

Berrylike ripe carpels, ripe have a round shape, brown in color, 5-7 cm in diameter, the pericarp is brown, contains juice and is edible. Fruit stalk length 8 cm. Each fruit has 4-6 seeds, oblong in shape, 3 cm long, 3 cm wide, has a portion of 27% of the weight of the fresh fruit, while the edible part has a portion of 49%.

Ripe fruit is eaten fresh. Fruit can be stored for 2-3 weeks at room temperature. The flesh of the fruit is orange to yellow in color and contains fruit juice which gives an aroma to urine, sweat and breath such as the aroma of roses and sapodilla in body excretions.

The fruit is used to relieve urine, prevent kidney inflammation and is a natural contraceptive. Wood for household utensils, straight stems are soaked for several months in water for building materials and last more than 50 years. This species grows wild in damp and deep soil in secondary forests in Java at altitudes up to 600 meters.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Magnoliales
Family: Annonaceae
Subfamily: Malmeoideae
Tribe: Miliuseae
Genus: Stelechocarpus Hook.f. & Thomson in Fl. Ind. Syst. Account 1: 94 (1855)
Species: Stelechocarpus burahol (Blume) Hook.f. & Thomson in Fl. Ind. Syst. Account 1: 94 (1855)

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Uvaria burahol Blume in Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind.: 14 (1825)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Guatteria toralak Blume in Fl. Javae, Anon.: 103 (1830)
Stelechocarpus burahol var. longiflorus Scheff. in Natuurk. Tijdschr. Ned.-Indië 31: 5 (1869)

PUBLICATIONS

Girmansyah, D. & al. (eds.) (2013). Flora of Bali an annotated checklist: 1-158. Herbarium Bogorensis, Indonesia.

Nelson Sutherland, C.H. (2008). Catálogo de las plantes vasculares de Honduras. Espermatofitas: 1-1576. SERNA/Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Turner, I.M. (1995). A catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Malaya. Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 47(1): 1-346.

Turner, I.M. (2011). A catalogue of the Annonaceae of Borneo. Phytotaxa 36: 1-120.

VERNACULAR NAME

Indonesian: Kepel, Burahol
Javanese: Kepel, kecindul, simpol, turalok
Sundanese: Nangsi

Aryo Bandoro
Dlium TheDlium
Web: https://www.dlium.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dlium

Popular Posts

Sea almond (Terminalia catappa)

Ketapang or tropical almond or beach almond or talisay tree or umbrella tree or sea almond ( Terminalia catappa ) is a species of plant in the Combretaceae, a shady tree, fast growing, forming a multilevel canopy, often used as a shade tree in gardens and on roadsides. T. catappa grows large, up to 40 meters in height and up to 1.5 meters in trunk, shady canopy with branches that grow flat and terraced, young trees often look like pagodas while old and large trees often have aerial roots up to 3 meters. The leaves are scattered, mostly at the end of the twig, rounded egg upside down, 8-38 cm long, 5-19 cm wide, the tip is wide, the base is narrow, the upper surface is smooth, green but turns red if to fall out and short stalks. The flowers are small, collected near the tips of the twigs, 8-25 cm long and green-yellow in color. The flowers are not crowned, the petals have five taju, are plate or bell shaped, 4-8 mm long and are white or cream in color. Stamens in two circles and arra...

Asian foxtail (Uraria crinita)

Asian foxtail or cat's tail bean ( Uraria crinita ) is a species of plant in Fabaceae, a perennial, upright shrub with woody stems at least at the base, up to 2 meters high in forests, agricultural land, waterways, used as a medicinal herb, green manure and sometimes planted in the garden as an ornamental plant. U. crinita has elongated leaves, rounded base, pointed tip, a bone in the middle with several pinnate veins, rough surface, dark green with white spots. Petiole short or less than 0.5 cm and brownish red. Compound flower in spike shape, purple and white triangular crown. Long flower stalk, erect, 15-20 cm long and only at the end of the flower. The crown slowly falls off and leaves behind a stalk that is shaped like coir or light yellow pads. Asian foxtail grows in dry grasslands, open forests, trash cans, roadsides, sandy areas and sometimes in deciduous forests, elevations of 0-1500 meters and does not grow in waterlogged places. The different parts are often used in t...

Kunu buti (Mesosphaerum suaveolens)

Kunu buti ( Mesosphaerum suaveolens ) is a species of plant in the Lamiaceae family. It is an erect, herbaceous annual, growing up to 1.5 meters tall. Its cylindrical, rough, brown or green stem is hairy and white. It grows on forest floors, bushes, agricultural fields, and roadsides. Its roots are fibrous and brownish-yellow. M. suaveolens has single, opposite leaves, stalks 2-5 cm long and hairy. The leaf blades are green, hairy, oval, with pointed tips, blunt bases, serrated edges, up to 6 cm long, up to 5 cm wide, and pinnate veins. The flowers are compound, axillary, in clusters, perfect, and bisexual. The petals are attached, forming a tube, each tip elongated like a spine, soft, 3-10 mm long, and green. The corolla is attached, asymmetrically detached, 1-2 cm long, and purple. The fruit is single, hard, capsule-shaped, hairy on the surface, and green or brown in color. The seeds are round, small and blackish brown in color. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphyl...