Syzygium cumini
(black plum)

Preferred Scientific Name

• Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels

Preferred Common Name

• black plum

Other Scientific Names

• Calyptranthes jambolana Willd.
• Eugenia cumini (L.) Druce
• Eugenia djouat Perr.
• Eugenia jambolana Lam.
• Myrtus cumini L.
• Syzygium jambolana Lam.
• Syzygium jambolanum DC.

International Common Names

• English: black plum tree; Indian blackberry; jambolan; jambolan; jamun; java plum; Java plumtree; Malabar plum; Portuguese plum
• Spanish: Ciruelo de Java; Ciruelo jambolan; guayabo pesgua; yambolana
• French: faux pistachier; Jamblon; jambolanier; jamélongue; jamelonguier; jamelonier
• Portuguese: jamelao

Local Common Names

• Brazil: jaláo; jambo; jambol; jambolao; jambolão; jambuláo; jamelao; jameláo
• Cambodia: pring bai; pring das krebey
• Cook Islands: kaika; ka'ika; paramu; pisat; pistaita; pistati; pitati
• Fiji: kavika ni India
• French Polynesia: pistas
• Germany: Jambolanapflaumenbaum; Wachsjambuse
• India: jam; jaman; jambo; jambu; jambudi; jambul; jambura; jamni; jamo; jamu; jamuk; kudijamu; naga; nagai; nairul; nairuri; narala; nareyr; nasedu; nava; naval; navvel; nawar; neeram; neerlu; neredam; neredu; nerlu; nerula; phalani; phalinda; pharenda; phaunda; sambal
• Indonesia: jamblang; juwet
• Indonesia/Java: djoowet; doowet; duwet
• Italy: Giambolana
• Kenya: lushanaku; mzambarau
• Laos: va
• Malaysia: jaman; jambhool; jamblang; jambool; jambu; jambul; jambulan; jambulana; jamelong; jamelongue; jiwat; salam
• Malaysia/Sabah: obah
• Myanmar: thabyay-hpyoo
• Nepal: ban jamun; jambu; kainyu; kalo jamun; kyarnuro; phanir
• Palau: mesegerak; mesekerrak; mesekerrák; mesigerak
• Philippines: duhat; lomboi; lomboy; lunaboy
• Samoa: nonu fi'afi'a
• Suriname: druif; jamoen; koeli
• Tanzania: mzambarau
• Thailand: hakhiphae; ma-ha; wa
• Venezuela: guayabo pésjua; pésjua extranjera
• Vietnam: tram moc; voi rung

EPPO code

• SYZCU (Syzygium cumini)

Trade name

• jaman
• jambolan
• jamun

• Domain: Eukaryota
•     Kingdom: Plantae
•         Phylum: Spermatophyta
•             Subphylum: Angiospermae
•                 Class: Dicotyledonae
•                     Order: Myrtales
•                         Family: Myrtaceae
•                             Genus: Syzygium
•                                 Species: Syzygium cumini

Formerly part of the genus, Eugenia, S. cumini is now a clearly defined taxa in the genus Syzygium. Commonly known as jambolan it should not be confused with the rose apple (Syzygium jambos).

Syzygium is a genus in the Myrtaceae that includes a number of popular species cultivated for their colourful, edible fleshy fruit. It is a genus of perhaps 1000 species of trees or shrubs native to the Old World tropics. The genus name Syzygium is derived via Latin from the Greek syzygos, meaning yoked together, possibly referring to the paired leaves (Janick and Paull, 2008). Other common names for S. cumini are black plum, damson plum, duhat plum, jamblang, jambolan plum, jamun, Java plum, Malabar plum and Portuguese plum (Janick and Paull, 2008).

The following description is adapted from Morton (1987): S. cumini may reach 30 m tall in India and Oceania or up to 12–15 m in Florida, USA, with a broad crown up to 11 m in diameter and a trunk diameter of 0.6–0.9 m though it usually has a multi-stemmed form branching close to the ground. Bark is rough, cracked, flaking and discoloured on the lower part of the trunk, becoming smooth and light-grey higher up. Evergreen leaves have a turpentine smell, and are opposite, 5–25 cm long, 2.5–10 cm wide, oblong-oval or elliptic, blunt or tapering to a point at the apex; pinkish when young, becoming leathery, glossy, dark-green above, lighter beneath, with a conspicuous, yellowish midrib when mature. Flowers are fragrant and appear in clusters 2.5–10 cm long, each being 1.25 cm wide and 2.5 cm long, with a funnel-shaped calyx and 4–5 united petals, white at first, becoming rose-pink, shedding rapidly to leave only the numerous stamens. Fruit appear in clusters of just a few or 10–40, are round or oblong, often curved, 1.25–5 cm long, turning from green to light-magenta, then dark-purple or nearly black, although a white-fruited form has been reported in Indonesia. The skin is thin, smooth, glossy, and adherent. The pulp is purple or white, very juicy, and normally encloses a single, oblong, green or brown seed, up to 4 cm long, though some fruits have 2–5 seeds tightly compressed within a leathery coat, and some are seedless. The fruit is usually astringent, sometimes unpalatably so, and the flavour varies from acid to fairly sweet.

Producing a fruit of local value, S. cumini would have been introduced from early times. In fact, it is thought to have been spread intentionally during pre-history to Bhutan, Nepal, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Java and elsewhere in the East Indies, and to Queensland and New South Wales, also on the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba (Tanzania) and Mombasa and the adjacent coast of Kenya (Morton, 1987). Before 1870 it was established in Hawaii, USA, and by the early 1900s it could be found cultivated in many Caribbean islands, reaching Puerto Rico in 1920 (Morton, 1987). It was also introduced into South America, the USA and Pacific and Indian Ocean islands though dates are not available. It was introduced to Israel in 1940 (Morton, 1987). Other Syzygium species have also been widely introduced and have also become invasive, such as S. jambos in the Caribbean Greater Antilles (Kairo et al., 2003), and S. malaccense. The tree is likely to be much more widespread than is indicated, especially in Africa.

Soil drainage

• free
• impeded
• seasonally waterlogged

Soil reaction

• acid
• neutral

Soil texture

• heavy
• light
• medium

Special soil tolerances

• infertile

Seeds are the most common means of dissemination, and these are known to be consumed and spread by animals, in Hawaii, mynah birds and other frugivorous birds and perhaps occasionally by feral pigs (Sus scrofa) (PIER, 2008). Many other birds and mammals are known to eat the fruit, including jackals and civets, and in Australia they are a favourite food of bats (Morton, 1987). Being a riverine species, seeds are also likely to be dispersed locally by water. Long-distance dispersal has been almost entirely due to intentional introduction as a fruit, timber and ornamental species.

Economic Impact

S. cumini has a positive economic impact via the provision of nutritious fruit, timber and as a traded ornamental. No costs for the control of S. cumini are available.

Social Impact

The tree is venerated in South Asia by Buddhists and Hindus. It is considered sacred to the Hindu gods Krishna and Ganesha and is commonly planted near Hindu temples (Morton, 1987). Where used as a street and ornamental tree, heavy fruiting can lead to masses of fruits littering pavements, roads and gardens, rapidly fermenting producing an unpleasant small and attracting insects, and as such many people want such trees replaced.

Environmental Impact

This large evergreen tree forms a dense cover and when forming a monoculture it can prevent other species from regenerating and growing, and although it is not an aggressive invader of undisturbed forest like the closely related S. jambos, it is known to prevent the reestablishment of native lowland forest.

It can also prevent the growth of desirable forage species.

• Proved invasive outside its native range
• Has a broad native range
• Abundant in its native range
• Highly adaptable to different environments
• Tolerates, or benefits from, cultivation, browsing pressure, mutilation, fire etc
• Pioneering in disturbed areas
• Tolerant of shade
• Highly mobile locally
• Long lived
• Fast growing
• Has high reproductive potential
• Reproduces asexually
• Has high genetic variability

• Ecosystem change/ habitat alteration
• Modification of nutrient regime
• Modification of successional patterns
• Monoculture formation
• Reduced native biodiversity
• Threat to/ loss of native species

• Competition - monopolizing resources
• Competition - shading
• Competition - smothering
• Competition (unspecified)
• Rapid growth

• Highly likely to be transported internationally deliberately

It is a multipurpose tree which is highly valued for its medicinal uses, edible fruits, for fodder, for strong heavy timber and good fuelwood. It is mainly found as a home garden fruit tree, although it is also found wild in secondary forests. It is also a host plant of the tasar silkworm, and a good source of nectar for honeybees. It is a sacred tree to Hindus and Buddhists. Seeds used to be traded for medicinal use until the end of the 1700s, when they were widely exported from India to Malaysia and Polynesia, and from the West Indies to Europe. The tree is grown as shade for coffee in India, and being wind-resistant is sometimes planted in dense rows as a windbreak, and if topped regularly, such plantings form a dense, massive hedge.

S. cumini fruit have a sweet or sub-acid flavour with little astringency, and are eaten raw or made into tarts, sauces and jam. More astringent fruits may be improved by treating them in a similar way to olives, i.e. by soaking them in salt water or leaving fruit stand after pricking them and rubbing them with salt, and all but the most inferior fruits can be made into juice which is similar to grape juice. When extracting juice from cooked fruit, just draining without squeezing will make it less astringent. White-fleshed fruit is high in pectin and makes very stiff jam unless cooking is brief, but the common purple-fleshed fruit yields a richly coloured jam but lacks pectin and requires the addition of a commercial gelling agent, or it must be combined with pectin-rich fruits such as unripe or sour guavas, or ketembillas. Good quality juice is excellent for sherbet, syrup and ‘squash’. In India, the latter is made into a bottled drink prepared by cooking crushed fruits and pressing out the juice, then adding sugar, water, citric acid and sodium benzoate. In Goa, India and the Philippines, S. cumini fruit are made into a Port-like wine and distilled liquors, brandy and ‘jambava’. Vinegar, extensively made throughout India, has an attractive clear purple colour with a pleasant aroma and mild flavour.

Flowers are abundant and the tree has a high value in apiculture, for example in the Western Ghats, India at elevations above 1000 m with an annual rainfall of 750-1000 mm where they are the main source for Apis dorsata. The honey is of fine quality but ferments in a few months unless treated. The leaves have served as fodder for livestock and as food for tassar silkworms in India, having approximately 9% crude protein. In Zanzibar and Pemba, Tanzania, people use young shoots for cleaning their teeth. An essential oil distilled from leaves is used to scent soap and is blended with other materials in making inexpensive perfume. Bark yields durable brown dyes of various shades depending on the mordant and the strength of the extract, and contains 8–19% tannin being much used in tanning leather and preserving fishing nets. The heartwood is red, reddish-grey or brownish-grey, with close, straight grain, but is hard and difficult to work. It is durable in water and resistant to borers and termites though tends to warp slightly. In India, it is commonly used for beams and rafters, posts, bridges, boats, oars, masts, troughs, well-lining, agricultural implements, carts, solid cart wheels, railway sleepers and the bottoms of railroad cars, and is sometimes made into furniture but has no special qualities. It is a fairly satisfactory fuel. S. cumini has received far more recognition in folk medicine and in the pharmaceutical trade than for any other use. Medicinally, the fruit is stated to be astringent, stomachic, carminative, anti-scorbutic and diuretic, and is used to treat acute diarrhoea, dysentery, dyspepsia, asthma, bronchitis, enlargement of the spleen, urine retention, for sore throat, mouth ulcers, spongy gums, and stomatitis, to treat ringworm of the scalp, burns, as an enema, diabetes mellitus or glycosuiria, as seed extracts are reported to lower blood pressure by 34.6% and this action is attributed to the ellagic acid content.