'klambuku', an unusual rambutan or a distinct species?

[red durian]

The big one is Klambuku.  It's flesh melts off the seed more than pulasan.  The flesh is not crispy or firm-textured like rambutan.  It is sweet, very juicy, sub-acid and just as good as rambutan or pulasan.   Trees are very rare here.  I hope it does not go extinct if it is only a local fruit.  Most locals do not know it.  As a side note, the green-skinned pulasan is ripe.

[lkailburn]

They all look tasty to me! I notice how thick the skin is on the klambuku

-Luke

[Mike T]

Great picture and collection there RD.Rambutans are pretty variable and some have softer flesh and little clinging testa.It might take a taxonomist with genetic work to decide what species it is.I think it is important that the rare and disappearing species and varieties get saved.Do you prefer pulasans or rambutans?

[FloridaGreenMan]

Beautiful fruits....send more pictures!

[red durian]

Not sure how to describe it, but you can sort of slurp the fruit off the seed in a second or two, no need to do anything special with your mouth.

[Gouralata]

Klambuku looks a little bit like the Ketapang (Iban name of an unindentified Nephelium in Sarawak)

Gouralata (reunion Island)

[Gouralata]

May be Nephelium meduseum

[Jackfruitwhisperer69]

Hi RedDurian,

Welcome to the forum

Those Nephelium's look AWESOME I tasted my first Rambutan's last year and they were super delicious

First time seeing a green pulasan and are called Babat hijau.

Since, Klambuku is a rare Nephelium, you should plant some trees and save this sp. from extinction Just to be on the safe side

Thanks for sharing

[tropical66]

The big one is Klambuku.  It's flesh melts off the seed more than pulasan.  The flesh is not crispy or firm-textured like rambutan.  It is sweet, very juicy, sub-acid and just as good as rambutan or pulasan.   Trees are very rare here.  I hope it does not go extinct if it is only a local fruit.  Most locals do not know it.  As a side note, the green-skinned pulasan is ripe.

Wonderful

[DurianLover]

Hey Red Durian,

Love you pics. Always nice to see rare Borneo fruits. Does Klambuku comes off the seed as easy as Pulasan, or kind of sticky like Rambutan? I tasted some pulasans in KL and Singapore, I believe they were Sibabat type (dark red).  Never seen Pulasans for sale in Borneo. Pulasans always much bigger than rambutans, wonder why are your pulasans the same size as rambutan next to it? You don't get bigger ones?
Lastly, could I order some seeds from you? Become intrigued by Klambuku and Black and/or Green Pulasans..

[Mike T]

Sibabat was the most common one here in the past and there were greens,purples,blacks,reds and giants at one place.Sibabat was like the bigger rambutans is size but the giant pulasan was way bigger and the biggest rambos were much bigger than the standards.The green pulasans were referred to as meritams.

[DurianLover]

Hey Mike,

I have some Sibabat seedlings. Do they come true to parent most of the time?

[Mike T]

I have been told people at Cape Trib and Tully who have them they do produce fruit truly but often skip years or have bad years.Oscar suggested that my area may not be ideal and this could influence their productivity locally.I chopped a sibabat and a meritam (green) down based on advice that they are poor producers compared to rambutans.I have recently been told of a farm with several trees of more than one type near Innisfail where they produce many fruits.
A friend has an excellent type collected by australian fruit enthusiasts near the philipine/indonesian border.It has not fruited since it had cyclone damage 2 years ago.He advised that they are nearly all seedling lines and true.I don't know if they come in hermies,males and females.

[fruitlovers]

Hey Mike,

I have some Sibabat seedlings. Do they come true to parent most of the time?

They won't be identical, but probably will make good quality fruits.

[tabbydan]

The big one is Klambuku.  It's flesh melts off the seed more than pulasan.  The flesh is not crispy or firm-textured like rambutan.  It is sweet, very juicy, sub-acid and just as good as rambutan or pulasan.   Trees are very rare here.  I hope it does not go extinct if it is only a local fruit.  Most locals do not know it.  As a side note, the green-skinned pulasan is ripe.

I want a lot more posts from you!
These are the kinds of fruits I go looking for when I travel to Asia (but sadly almost never see).

I don't know about calling yourself "red durian" though.  Aren't you worried that other people on this list might try to find you and consume you.  I was in Indonesia a little over a month ago and kept trying to explain to the "ordinary people" (not fruit fanatics like ourselves) about other species of Durio and I was mentioning the "red fleshed durian" as an example.  Sadly all I saw was standard durian (of course, I still ate them whenever I could).

[red durian]

Answer found today!  Klambuku is Nephelium cuspidatum var. robustum

[fruitlovers]

Answer found today!  Klambuku is Nephelium cuspidatum var. robustum

Isn't that also called giant rambutan? Your fruit photos didn't look like very big fruit. There are several sub species of cuspidatum. Could it possibly be one of the other sub species?

[red durian]

Answer found today!  Klambuku is Nephelium cuspidatum var. robustum

Isn't that also called giant rambutan? Your fruit photos didn't look like very big fruit. There are several sub species of cuspidatum. Could it possibly be one of the other sub species?

Possibly, though park worker said that it was klambuku.  I saw the fruits on the ground and they were the same size and had the same appearance as klambuku, but could not taste them as the ones on the tree were too high to pick.  Each one on the ground was a little bit spoiled.  This is also the season for klambuku.  But, I wouldn't say for absolute certainty that the bot name is correct.

[fruitlovers]

Answer found today!  Klambuku is Nephelium cuspidatum var. robustum

Isn't that also called giant rambutan? Your fruit photos didn't look like very big fruit. There are several sub species of cuspidatum. Could it possibly be one of the other sub species?

I saw robustum trees at experimental station in Hilo. They are very tall and unpright, but the fruit is much larger than a rambutan. They rarely fruit so i've still not had a chance to taste them.

Possibly, though park worker said that it was klambuku.  I saw the fruits on the ground and they were the same size and had the same appearance as klambuku, but could not taste them as the ones on the tree were too high to pick.  Each one on the ground was a little bit spoiled.  This is also the season for klambuku.  But, I wouldn't say for absolute certainty that the bot name is correct.

[red durian]

The tree I saw in a village was very upright, but the one in the park was more like a rambutan.

[fruitlovers]

The tree I saw in a village was very upright, but the one in the park was more like a rambutan.

Hmmmm, the robustum at exp. station in Hilo are all very tall and upright. Are you sure the ones in village and park are same species?

[red durian]

The tree I saw in a village was very upright, but the one in the park was more like a rambutan.

Hmmmm, the robustum at exp. station in Hilo are all very tall and upright. Are you sure the ones in village and park are same species?

Can only say that both were called klambuku.  As you know, sometimes common names are spread across species.  What I need is a small botanist who will fit in my pocket.

[red durian]

Here is what a 2 day old klambuku seedling looks like... so much redder than a rambutan seedling.  I had expected them to look indistinguishable at first.

[fruitlovers]

If it is the giant rambutan not surprising to me that the seedling sprout looks different than rambutan as the fruit and the tree also look different than rambutan. Thanks for posting that. I like to see what those seedlings look like, and most folks only post photos of the fruits, plant, or tree.

[Tawfiq]

They all look tasty to me! I notice how thick the skin is on the klambuku

-Luke

Hi ...I'am still interested by Pulasan seeds

do you still have?