Willughbeia edulis

Willughbeia edulis^[2] or rubber vine fruit is a vine species bearing tropical fruit in the family Apocynaceae.

Willughbeia edulis
Willughbeia edulis, known as Kouy fruit, for sale in Cambodia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Gentianales
Family:	Apocynaceae
Genus:	Willughbeia
Species:	W. edulis
Binomial name
Willughbeia edulis Roxb.
Synonyms[1]
Ambelania edulis (Roxb.) J.Presl Ancylocladus edulis (Roxb.) Kuntze Ancylocladus cochinchinensis Pierre Ancylocladus curtisianus Pierre Pacouria roxburghii Kostel. Willughbeia cochinchinensis (Pierre) K.Schum. Willughbeia curtisiana (Pierre) K.Schum. Willughbeia dulcis Ridl. Willughbeia gudara Steud. Willughbeia kontumensis Lý Willughbeia martabanica Wall.

Taxonomy

Its species epithet edulis comes from Latin which means "edible".^[3] In fact, it is one of the rare climbing plants of Southeast Asia of which the fruits are eatable.^[4]

Description

It is a yellow sour edible fruit found in: India, Indo-China (Cambodia, Myanmar, and Isan (northeastern) with Chanthaburi Province of Thailand^[5] as well as Vietnam) include Peninsular Malaysia. It may be known under a number of synonyms including "Willughbeia cochinchinensis".^[6]

After its reddish lenticelled stems are excised, they exude a milky latex which produces a rubber called chittagong.^[3] The roots can be used as a red dye^[7] and it may be used medicinally in parts of Asia including Cambodia.

Vernacular names

Local names include: kuy (គុយ) in Cambodia; gedraphol, laleng-tenga, bel-tata in India; dton-kuy (ต้นคุย), kuiton (เถาคุย), kreua (เครือ), and katong-katiew (กะตังกะติ้ว) in Thai; bak yang-pa (บักยางป่า) in Isan dialect.^[5][7] talaing-no in Myanmar; and guồi in Vietnamese.^[8]

Kubal madu in Indonesia refers to a similar edible relative, W. sarawacensis.