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Family Oxalidaceae
Kamias
Averrhoa bilimbi
CUCUMBER TREE

Common names  
Iba (C. Bis., P. Bis., Sul., Tag.)  Kalingiwa (Bis.) 
Ibag (Mbo.)  Kiling-iba (Bik.) 
Ibe (Yak.) Pias (Ilk.) 
Kamias (Tag.)  Puis (Ig.) 
Kolonanas (Tag.)  Bilimibi (India)
Kolonauas (Tag.)  Cucumber tree (Engl.)
Kalamias (Tag.)   


Botany
Small tree growing 5 to 12 meters high. Leaves are pinnate, 20-60 cm long, with hairy rachis and leaflets. Leaflets are opposite, 10 to 17 pairs, oblong, 5 to 10 cm in length. Flowers, about 1.5 cm long, and slightly fragrant. Fruit, green and edible, about 4 cm long, subcylindric with 5 obscure, broad, rounded, longitudinallobes.

Distribution
Cultvated and semi-cultivated throughout the Philippines.

Parts utilized
Whole plant.

Properties and constituents
• Considered antibacterial, astringent, antiscorbutic, febrifuge, antidiabetic, stomachic, refrigerant.
• Study on volatile components of AB fruits showed 6 mg/kg of total volatile compounds; 62 compounds were identified, nonanal and (Z)-3-hexenol were dominant.

Uses
Nutrition
Eaten raw.
Prepared as a relish and food flavoring.
Folkloric
• Skin diseases, especially with pruritus: Reduce the leaves to a paste and apply tolerably warm to areas of affected skin.
• Fruit juice used as eye drops.
• Post-partum and rectal inflammation: Infusion of leaves.
• Mumps, acne, and localized rheumatic complaints: Paste of leaves applied to affected areas.
• Warm paste of leaves also used for pruritus.
• Used for boils, piles, rheumatism, cough, hypertension, whooping cough, mumps and pimples.
• Cough and thrush: Infusion of flowers, 40 grams to a pint of boiling water, 4 glasses of tea daily.
• Fever: Fruit as a cooling drink.
• The fruit has been used for a variety of maladies: beriberi, cough, prevention of scurvy.
• Infusion of leaves also drank as a protective tonic after childbirth.
• In Malaysia, leaves are used for venereal diseases.
• In Indonesia, leaves used for boils, diabetes, mumps, fever.
• In French Guyana, fruit decoction or syrup use for hepatitis, diarrhea, fever and other inflammatory conditions.
Others
Because of high oxalic acid content, fruit used to remove stains from clothing and for washing hands, removing rust and stains from metal blades.

Studies
Hypoglycemic / Hypotriglyceridemic / Anti-Atherogenic / Anti-Lipid Peroxidative:
Effects of Averrhoa bilimbi leaf extract on blood glucose and lipids in streptozotocin-diabetic rats: Study showed that AB extract has hypoglycemic, hypotriglyceridemic, anti-lipid peroxidative and anti-atherogenic properties in STZ-diabetic rats.
Antioxidant / Antimicrobial Activities: The scavenging of NO by the extract of AC fruits was dependent on concentration and stage of ripening. Extracts showed antimicrobial activity against E coli, Salmonella typhi, staph aureus and bacillus cereus.
Phytochemicals / Antimicrobial: Phytochemical screening of fruit extracts yielded flavonoids, saponins and triterpenoids but no alkaloids. The chloroform and methanol fruit extracts were active againsxt Aeromonas hydrophilia, E coli, K pneumonia, S cerrevisiae, S aureus, Strep agalactiae and B subtilis. In conclusion, AB fruits possess potential antibacterial activities that warrants further studies.
Anti-diabetic: Study showed the aqueous fraction was more potent than the butanol fraction in the amelioration of hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia in a high fat diet-fed STZ diabetic rats and suggests the AF as the potential source for isolation of the active principle for oral antidiabetic therapy.
Anti-bacterial: Study of the aqueous extract of AB leaves and fruits showed antibacterial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The antibacterial activity could be associated with the presence of bioactive compounds of the flavonoids type, like luteolin and apigenin. The results suggest further studies to isolate and identify the responsible compounds.
Anti-Hyperlipidemic: Study showed the fruit and its water extract, but not the alcohol and hexane extracts, to have remarkable antihypercholesterolemic activity. Results suggest the fruit can be used as a dietary ingredient to treat hyperlipidemia.

Availability

Wildcrafted.
Seasonal fruiting.


Last Update May 2010

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Effects of Averrhoa bilimbi leaf extract on blood glucose and lipids in streptozotocin-diabetic rats / P. Pushparaj, C. H. Tan and B. K. H. Tan / Journal of Ethnopharmacology / doi:10.1016/S0378-8741(00)00200-2
(2)
Herbal and Traditional Medicine / Averrhoa bilimbi / Lester Packer
(3)
Antioxidant And Antimicrobial Activities Of Averrhoa carambola L. Fruits
(4)
Phytochemical screening and antimicrobial efficacy of extracts from Averrhoa bilimbi (Oxalidaceace) fruits against human pathogenic bacteria / Nurul Huda Bt. Abdul Wahab et al / Pharmacognosy Journal / Vol 1. Issue 1. June 2009
(5)
Anti–diabetic activity of the semi–purified fractions of Averrhoa bilimbi in high fat diet fed–streptozotocin–induced diabetic rats / Benny Kwong Huat Tan et al / Life Sciences / Volume 76, Issue 24, 29 April 2005, Pages 2827-2839 / doi:10.1016/j.lfs.2004.10.051
(6)
Volatile Components of Averrhoa bilimbi L. Fruit Grown in Cuba / Journal of Essential Oil Research: JEOR, May/Jun 2004 by Pino, Jorge A, Marbot, Rolando, Bello, Avillo
(7)
In vitro antibacterial activity of AB leaves and fruit extracts / Z. A. Zakaria, H. Zaiton et al /International Journal of Tropical Medicine 2(3):96-100. 2007

(8)
Studies on the Antihyperlipidemic Properties of Averrhoa bilimbi Fruit in Rats / Savithri Ambili et al / Planta Med 2009; 75(1): 55-58 / DOI: 10.1055/s-0028-1088361


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