Jambul (Syzygium cumini) is an evergreen tropical tree in the flowering plant family Myrtaceae. Jambul is native to Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Indonesia.[citation needed] The name of the fruit is sometimes mistranslated as blackberry, which is a different fruit in an unrelated family.

The tree was introduced to Florida, USA in 1911 by the USDA, and is also now commonly grown in Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. In Brazil, where it was introduced from India during Portuguese colonization, it has dispersed spontaneously in the wild in some places, as its fruits are eagerly sought by various native birds such as thrushes, tanagers and the Great Kiskadee. This species is considered an invasive in Hawaii, USA.[1] It is also illegal to grow, plant or transplant in Sanibel, Florida.[2]

Jambul is also known as Jambhul/jambu/jambula/jamboola, Java plum, jamun, jaam/kalojaam, jamblang, jambolan, black plum, Damson plum, Duhat plum, Jambolan plum or Portuguese plum. Malabar plum may also refer to other species of Syzygium. This fruit is called Neredu Pandu in Telugu, Naaval Pazham in Tamil, Navva Pazham in Malayalam, Nerale Hannu in Kannada, Jam in Bengali, Jamukoli in Oriya and Jambu in Gujarat. Jambul is known as Duhat in the Tagalog-speaking regions of the Philippines, Lomboy in the Cebuano-speaking areas and Inobog in Maguindanao.[3] It is called Dhanvah in Maldives and Dhuwet/Juwet in Javanese. Among its names in Portuguese are jamelão, jambolão, jalão, joão-bolão, manjelão, azeitona-preta, baga-de-freira, brinco-de-viúva and guapê, always with lower case, the early four derived from the Konkani name jambulan.[4] They are called rotra in the Malagasy language (Madagascar).[5]

From en.wikipedia.org - May 20, 2013 6:31 AM