Balimbing
Averrhoa carambola · Star fruit
- Names in the 1901 book
- Bilimbin, Balimbin, Tag.
- Names in the 1985 book
- Tagalog: Balimbing; Ilocano: Daldaligan; Visayan: Galangan, Garahan, Malimbin
- Colours
- flowerlilac, pinkfruityellow
- Native range
- Southeast Asia
- In the Philippines, per the book
- It grows, like the former plant, in all parts of the islands.
- Family
- Oxalidaceae, filed in the book under Geraniaceæ
- Printed in 1901 as
- Averrhoa Carambola, L.
- Printed in 1985 as
- Auerrhoa carambola L.
- Sources
- Page 60 on Project Gutenberg · Healing Wonders of Herbs (1985), page 74 · Wikipedia
The plant today
Averrhoa carambola is a species of tree in the family Oxalidaceae native to tropical Southeast Asia; it has a number of common names, including carambola, star fruit and five-corner. It is a small tree or shrub that grows 5 to 12 m (16 to 39 ft) tall, with rose to red-purple flowers. The flowers are small and bell-shaped, with five petals that have whitish edges. The flowers are often produced year round under tropical conditions. The tree is cultivated in tropical and semitropical regions for its edible fruits.
Excerpt from “Averrhoa carambola” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sa Tagalog
Ang balimbing (Ingles: carambola o starfruit) ay isang prutas ng Averrhoa carambola, isang uri ng puno na likas sa Indonesia, India at Sri Lanka. Malapit na may kaugnayan ito sa kamias. Ang lathalaing ito na tungkol sa Prutas ay isang usbong. Makatutulong ka sa Wikipedia sa pagpapalawig nito.
Sipi mula sa “Balimbing” sa Tagalog Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 174 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 29 provinces, most often Davao del Norte (26), Davao del Sur (12), Cebu (6), Iloilo (5), Agusan del Sur (5), Quezon (3), Batangas (2), Compostela Valley (2), and 21 more.
Counts from GBIF occurrence records, October 2026. They include planted trees and garden plants, and a province with no records may only lack collectors.
What the 1901 book says
A historical record, quoted as printed. Doses and remedies here are not medical advice.
Uses
The common name of this tree, whose fruit is so common, causes it to be confused with the name which Linnæus gives to the former species. Balimbin is a fruit of an acid taste, agreeable when ripe, serving the same uses for food as the camia. Its acidity is due to the presence of oxalic acid, which makes the green fruit useful for removing ink and rust stains from clothes. The juice of the fruit is refreshing and is given internally mixed with water and sugar as a refreshing drink in fevers and as an antiscorbutic. For the latter the ripe fruit is eaten uncooked.
In Mauritius the juice is used to treat dysentery and hepatitis. Padre Blanco says that the natives use a decoction of camias and unthreshed rice in diarrhœa and bilious colic. In connection with the subject of camias and balimbins we should mention the fruit treatment of the bilious diarrhœa of the tropics, spoken of by the French physicians of Cochin China. Dr. Van der Burg of the Dutch Indies also strongly recommends the treatment of diarrhœa by fruits; in temperate regions using fruits like peaches, pears, etc., and in the tropics, lychies, mangosteens, etc. In regard to the mangosteens we must not forget that, while the bark is given because of the amount of tannin it contains, the composition of the pulp is very different. The fruit acids seem to exercise great influence in the cure of this obstinate disease and I do not hesitate to recommend for this purpose the camia and the ripe balimbin.
Botanical description
A tree much like the former. Leaves odd-pinnate. Leaflets, 3–4 pairs, obliquely ovate, acute, the terminal leaflet nearly lanceolate. Flowers on the trunk, branches and in the axils of the leaves. Fruit oblong, with 5 very prominent acute-angled ribs.
What the 1985 book uses it for
A record of home remedies from 1985, with the book's amounts and doses reworded. It is not medical advice.
- Chicken poxLeaf juice on the skin for itching.Dab the juice of young leaves on the spots three times a day without rubbing.Page 18
- FeverLeaf decoction as a cold compress.Boil 2 cups of chopped leaves in half a gallon of water for 10 minutes, strain and cool for 2 hours. Used for the compress when there is no ice water.Page 25
Summarised from Herminia de Guzman-Ladion, Healing Wonders of Herbs (Manila: Philippine Publishing House, 1985), where this plant is shown as “Balimbing” on page 74. The book is in copyright, so its wording and photographs are not reproduced. Amounts are the book's, restated.
Recent research
The most cited papers since 2022 that name this plant in the title, pulled from Europe PMC in October 2026. Titles are the authors' own and the findings have not been reviewed here.
- Averrhoa carambola leaves prevent dyslipidemia and oxidative stress in a rat model of poloxamer-407-induced acute hyperlipidemia
- Microwave-assisted synthesis of Ag/ZnO nanoparticles using Averrhoa carambola fruit extract as the reducing agent and their application in cotton fabrics with antibacterial and UV-protection properties
- Anti-Obesity Evaluation of Averrhoa carambola L. Leaves and Assessment of Its Polyphenols as Potential α-Glucosidase Inhibitors