Rukam

Trees, 5-15 m tall; bark gray-brown, not flaky; when young with simple or branched thorns to 10 cm on trunk and branches (thornless in cultivated forms); branchlets terete, glabrous to densely pubescent when young. Petiole 4-8 mm, glabrous or pubescent, hairs spreading; young leaves flaccid, drooping, rose-red to brown; mature leaves ovate-oblong, elliptic-oblong, or oblong-lanceolate, 6-16 × 4-7 cm, subleathery, both surfaces glabrous or minutely puberulous, in older leaves hairs mostly confined to midveins and lateral veins, midvein raised and sometimes prominent abaxially, impressed adaxially, lateral veins 5-11 pairs, base obtuse to rounded, less often acute, margin serrulate, serrate, or dentate, teeth obtuse, apex gradually to abruptly acuminate, acumen 0.5-2 cm, tip obtuse. Inflorescences axillary, racemose, 0.5-1 cm, puberulous; bracts ovate, ca. 1 mm, pubescent. Pedicels 3-4 mm, puberulous to pubescent, hairs ± appressed, short. Flowers yellowish green, scentless. Sepals (3 or)4 or 5(or 6), ovate, 1-1.5 mm, both surfaces pubescent, outside sparsely pubescent, inside more densely so, margin ciliate, apex acute or obtuse. Staminate flowers: stamen filaments 3-4 mm, glabrous; disk orange-red to yellowish. Pistillate flowers: ovary bottle-shaped; placentas 4-6(-8); styles 4-6(-8), free, divergent, 0.7-1.5 mm; stigmas recurved, slightly dilated, reniform; staminodes (reduced stamens) or developed stamens (?functional) occasionally present. Fruit light green, pink, purplish, or dark red, globose, 2-2.5 cm in diam., 4-7-angled in dried state, persistent styles well-spaced, set in a circle at fruit apex. Seeds ca. 12. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jun-Oct.

Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan [India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, both wild and cultivated].

Evergreen broad-leaved forests; below 2000 m.

Flacourtia rukam is a species of flowering plant in the family Salicaceae. It is native to Island Southeast Asia and Melanesia, but has spread into Mainland Southeast Asia, India, and Polynesia. It is also cultivated for its edible fruit. Common names include rukam, governor's plum, Indian plum, and Indian prune.

This species is a tree growing 5 to 15 meters tall. The trunk is lined with thorns up to 10 centimeters long; some cultivated varieties lack thorns. New leaves are red to brown in color. Mature leaves are somewhat oval in shape with toothed edges and up to 16 centimeters long by 7 wide. Racemes of yellow-green male and female flowers occur in the leaf axils. The rounded fruit is about 2 centimeters long and is green, red, or purple in color.