Mhow, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India.
Nature Note From Mhow: Have you ever eaten t...
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Mhow, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India.
Nature Note From Mhow: Have you ever eaten the Jungle Jalebi?
Photographs taken from March to May 2008.
Camera: SONY DSC H9.
Taxonomic Name: Pithecellobium dulce
Common Names: Madras Thorn, Manila Tamarind, Monkeypod, Guamachili, Kamatsile (Filipino), Opiuma (Hawaiian).
According to the Wikipedia article on this tree it is a native of Central and Northern South America.
Besides the common names given above Pradip Krishen's Trees Of Delhi, a copy of which is always on my study table, gives me the names Vilaiti Imli and Dakhani Babool for this tree in Hindi.
The jungle jalebi was a childhood favourite during the years I spent in Mhow in the late sixties and early seventies. Every summer we had to break a few by throwing stones and then fight for the tasty fruit when they fell to the ground.
We have a tree in our house now. It is the rejuvented part of an older tree and is doing well.
These pictures are taken over a period of almost two months as the flowers became fruits which in turn ripened.
The large leaves one can see to the left in the pic above are those of the lantana.
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Hi Melody .. thanks for your visit and the comment.. I am so glad that this will be of use to your daughter... I dedicate this blog post to the little one... Keep visiting... regards.. Dev
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Hi CB... it is great to know that you have a Mhow connection too... am glad you liked this post... please keep visiting.. regards... Dev
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Hi Julia.. am glad you liked these pics... Do keep visiting.... regards.. Dev
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Very excellent indeed Dev. The pictures are splendid!
Julia
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I have also lived in Mhow (in the early 1960s) - and enjoyed the jungle jalebi referred to by Dev/ thank you for reviving old memories (and also educating us about the botanical details etc too)/ keep up the good work
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Dev
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Wow! I have seen tamarind pods hanging from trees, but not perfect jalebi like ones. And you have followed the lifecycle so closely. I'm going to show this to my daughter. She has to study bean lifecycle in school. This would be additional info for her. Thanks for posting these wonderful pictures
Regards
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Hi Avinash.. am really glad that this blog post has been of help to you and it also took you on a nostalgia trip... and am happy to learn another name (cheezbilai) ... thanks for the visit and the comment... regards.. Dev
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Hi komlet .. am glad that you found this blog post to be informative and interesting... do keep visiting.. regards.. Dev
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Hi ro... one of the kids you saw fighting over the jalebis could well have been me... and do check your inbox every now and then I may suceed in sending you some via email
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Vsudevanji,
You solved one problem with this post of yours. I was wondering how to describe this fruit that I ate in the childhood. It was called cheezbilai here in Nagpur. I searched for it on the net but not a single result answered that name. Now you have given the alternative name that I had forgotten and also the botanical name. Thanks.
I loved this fruit and we ate lots of it in the childhood. Somehow, I don;t see the tree anymore in the nearby locales.
Thanks.
Avinash
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