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
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