Santol
Sandoricum koetjape
- Names in the book
- Santol, Tag.
- Colours
- flowergreenish-yellowfruityellow
- Native range
- Indochina and Malesia
- In the Philippines, per the book
- Grows in all parts of the islands, commonly along the roads.
- Family
- Meliaceae, filed in the book under Meliaceæ
- Printed as
- Sandoricum Indicum, Cav.
- Sources
- Page 77 on Project Gutenberg · Wikipedia
The plant today
Sandoricum koetjape, the santol, sentul, setun or cotton fruit, is a tropical fruit native to maritime Southeast Asia.
Excerpt from “Sandoricum koetjape” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sa Tagalog
Ang santol (Sandoricum koetjape, syn. S. indicum at S. nervosum) (Ingles: sandor tree) ay isang uri ng puno at prutas nito. Lumalago ang prutas sa mabilis na tumutubong puno na maaaring umaabot sa taas na 150 talampakan. Mayroon itong kulay rosas o dilaw-berdeng mga bulaklak na may habang 1 sentimetro.
Sipi mula sa “Santol” sa Tagalog Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 307 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 27 provinces, most often Zamboanga del Norte (35), Palawan (18), Agusan del Sur (17), Davao del Norte (7), Sorsogon (6), Benguet (5), Davao del Sur (5), Guimaras (5), and 19 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 santol is doubtless one of the best known fruits in Manila. The most savory portion is the center, which consists of seeds covered with a white pulp of a delicious flavor in the ripe fruit of good quality. The fleshy covering is edible only in the center of the fruit and only a very thin layer of that, the rest having very little flavor. The whole fruit is used in making a confection often prescribed as an astringent. Padre Mercado compares it very appropriately to the quince. The root of the santol is aromatic, stomachic and astringent, by virtue of which latter property it is used in Java in the treatment of leucorrhœa.
Botanical description
A tree, 30–40° high, well known in the islands. Leaves ternate; leaflets 4–5′ long, half-ovate, obtuse, entire, stiff and downy, the middle one elliptical. Flowers in panicles. Calyx 5-toothed. Corolla much longer than the calyx, 5 greenish petals, linear and curved downwards. Nectary a cylindrical tube attached to the corolla for half its length, mouth 10-toothed, containing 10 sessile anthers. Style somewhat longer than the stamens. Stigma 5-parted. Fruit about size and form of a small apple, thick, brown, pericarp indehiscent, 5 or more one-seeded compartments.
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.
- The health benefits of santol fruits and bioactive products isolated from Sandoricum koetjape Merr.: A scoping review
- Cycloartane-type triterpenoids from the leaves of Sandoricum koetjape and their efficacy on α-glucosidase inhibition activity
- Pentacyclic triterpenes from the leaves extract of Sandoricum koetjape