Kabiki
Mimusops elengi · Spanish cherry
- Names in the book
- Kabiki, Tag.
- Colours
- flowercreamfruitorange, red
- Native range
- South and Southeast Asia to northern Australia
- In the Philippines, per the book
- Cultivated in the gardens.
- Family
- Sapotaceae, filed in the book under Sapotaceæ
- Printed as
- Mimusops Elengi, L.
- Sources
- Page 157 on Project Gutenberg · Wikipedia
The plant today
Mimusops elengi is a medium-sized evergreen tree found in tropical forests in South Asia, Southeast Asia and northern Australia. English common names include Spanish cherry, medlar, and bullet wood. Its timber is valuable and its fruit is edible. As the trees give thick shade and flowers emit fragrance, it is a prized collection for gardens. It is used as an ornamental tree in many places. The flowers may also be used in natural perfume. Its flower is the provincial flower of Yala Province, Thailand, as well as the city flower of Ampang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
Excerpt from “Mimusops elengi” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 164 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 15 provinces, most often Palawan (23), Occidental Mindoro (6), Zambales (5), Nueva Ecija (4), Davao del Sur (3), Bataan (2), Metropolitan Manila (2), Batangas (1), and 7 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
Its flowers are fragrant and generally well known. The trunk bark is astringent, and in decoction is given by mouth for fevers and diarrhœa. Locally is used as an injection for blenorrhœa, as a gargle for sore throat or relaxed uvula, and a mouth wash to harden the gums. Horsfield states that the Javanese use it as a tonic and antiperiodic. In India an aqueous distillate is employed as a perfume and therapeutically as a stimulant. In Concan they chew the green fruit for toothache and to harden relaxed gums. The decoction of the green fruit serves the same purpose and besides is used to wash wounds and ulcers.
Botanical description
A large ornamental tree with leaves alternate, oblong, coriaceous, green. Flowers small, straw-colored, star-shaped, very fragrant. Calyx, 8 sepals. Corolla gamopetalous, 16 oblong, lanceolate divisions. Stamens 8, free, short, alternating with 8 petaloid, conical, pubescent staminodia. Ovary free, many ovules. Fruit fleshy, oval, smooth, yellow when ripe, with one or several locules according to the number of matured seeds. Seeds solitary, oblong, flattened.
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.
- Enhancement of antibacterial and UV protection properties of blended wool/acrylic and silk fabrics by dyeing with the extract of Mimusops elengi leaves and metal salts
- Mimusops elengi Flower-Mediated Green Silver Nanoparticles Control Staphylococcus aureus and Acinetobacter baumannii
- Evaluation of anti-microbial efficacy among Andrographis Paniculata and Mimusops Elengi on oral microflora: An Experimental in-vitro study