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Family Solanaceae
Tarambulo
Solanum ferox Linn.
HAIRY-FRUITED EGGPLANT

Mao qie

Scientific names Common names
Solanum ferox L. Balbalusañgi (Ilk.)
  Basula (Ibn.)
  Dabutung (Sul.)
  Dagutung (Sul.)
  Kamadaka (Iv.)
  Tagatum (P. Bis.)
  Talong-ayam (Bik.)
  Talong-gubat (Tag.)
  Talong-talong (Tag.)
  Tarambolo (Tag.)
  Tarambulo (Tag.)
  Tarong-tarong (S. L. Bis.)
  Tagutong (Bis.)
  Hairy-fruited eggplant (Engl.)
  Malaysian sunplant (Engl.)
  Wild eggplant (Engl.)
  Wild pea eggplant (Engl.)
Solanum ferox L. is an unresolved name. The Plant List

Other vernacular names
BRUNEI: Tarong pasai, Tokung.
BURMESE: Sinkade, Tarabi.
CHINESE: Mao qie (Mao ch'ieh).
FRENCH: Aubergine de Siam à fruit hirsute.
LAOTIAN: Khüa khôn, Khüa puux.
MALAY: Terong dayak, Terong iban, Terong asam (Indonesia).
MYANMAR: Sinkade, Tarabi.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Su, Su-lamas, Kova-sakau.
SPANISH: Berenjena espinuda, Berenjena silvestre.
THAI: Ma ûk, Ma ûk muak, Ma pu, Yangkhuidi.
VIETNAMESE: Cà bung, Cà du.

Botany
Tarambulo is a small, suberect, prickly, hairy herb, 0.5 to 1.5 meters high. Leaves are broadly ovate, 15 to 20 centimeters long, 12 to 23 centimeters wide, lobed at the margins, and densely covered with stiff woolly hairs above and woolly hairs and prickly spines on the nerves beneath; the lobes are triangular and 2.5 to 4 centimeters deep. Flowers are borne on lateral racemes. Calyx is shortly funnel-shaped, with ovate-triangular lobes. Corolla is densely woolly outside, white, oblong-loved, 2 to 2.5 centimeters long. Fruit is a berry, yellow, globose, 2.5 to 3.5 centimeters in diameter, densely covered with needle-like hairs, and many-seeded.

Distribution
- Throughout the Philippines, in waste places and old clearings, at low and medium altitudes, ascending to 2,000 meters.
- Also occurs in India to southern China, Indonesia, Thailand.

Constituents
- Seeds yield a yellow colored oil with a fatty acid composition of palmitic acid (12.5%), stearic acid (9.95%) oleic acid (39.83%) and linoleic acid (38.06%).

- Nutritive composition of S. ferox fruit per 100 g edible portion yields dry matter 11.5 g, protein 2 g, sugar 1.04 g, ß-carotene 0.19 mg, vitamin C 11 mg, α-tocepherol 0.30 mg, y-tocopherol 0.10 mg, total tocopherol 0.41 mg, calcium 28 mg, and Fe 0.82 mg. (AVRDC 2003). Another nutrient analysis of fruit yielded per 100 g edible portion: energy 62 kcal, moisture 78.8%, protein 1.8 g (FW) 8.6 g (DW), fat 1.3 g, carbohydrate 10.9 g, fiber 5.3 g, P 58 mg, K 381 mg, Ca 55 mg, Mg 23 mg, Fe 45 µg, Mn 2 µg, and Zn 5.7 µg. (Voon et al, 1988; Voon and Kueh 1999) (10)
- Study of seeds of Solanum ferox yielded 2.7% yellow colored oil with a fatty acid composition of 12.15% palmitic acid, 9.96% stearic acid, 39.82% oleic acid, and 38.06% linoleic acid. (11)

Properties
- Leaves considered diaphoretic, emetic, expectorant.

- Studies suggest antibacterial, repellent activities.

Distribution
- Throughout the Philippines

Uses
Culinary
- In India, Thailand and Malaysia, fruit widely used as a sour-relish in curries.
- In Thailand, a special kind of sauce called nam prek is made with the fruit.
Folkloric
- In the Philippines, leaves used as poultices for swellings.
- In Malaysia, decoction of roots used for body pains and discomfort after meals.
- Decoction used for syphilis.
- Roots used externally for baths for fevers and as poultice for itches, cuts, wounds and bruises.
- Seeds used for toothaches – burned and the fumes inhaled.
- In Bangladesh, used for coughs, asthma, fever, vomiting, sore throat and gonorrhea.
- In India, used for female sex disorders.
- In India, dried seeds and flowers are kept in mouths for tooth decay. (5)
- In Assam, India, burned seeds are taken to relieve chronic and bronchial cough; used in asthma. (6) Fruits are used as appetizer; root extracts used as antiasthmatic. (7)


Studies
Seed Fat:
Seeds yield a yellow colored oil, containing palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid and linoleic acid. (1)
Antibacterial: Study evaluated B. pandurata, Z. zerumbet, and S. ferox extracts against Aeromonas hydrophilia and Pseudomonas sp. in aquaculture. Results showed S. ferox at 400 and 900 inhibited Pseudomonas sp. growth whereas concentration of 600, 200, and 900 ppm reduced bacterial pathogen in fish body. (8)
Repellent / Tribolium castaneum: Study evaluated the dose-mortality and repellent activity of various chloroform extracts of Solarium ferox against the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum adults. Fruit and stem extracts showed repellent activity against T. castaneum adults at P<0.01 and leaf extract at P<0.05. The root extract did not show any repellency. (9)

Availability
Wild-crafted.

Updates November 2018 / March 2016

IMAGE SOURCE: / File:Solanum lasiocarpum.jpg / January 2010 / Artist: Cozzycovers / Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
OTHER IMAGE SOURCE: / Illustration / Solanum ferox L. var. minus / Wight, R., Icones Plantarum Indiae Orientalis, vol. 4(2): t. 1400 (1846) / PlantIllustrations.org

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Chemical Examination of the Seed Fat of Solanum Ferox L. / S K Gang and D R Gupta / Fette, Seifen, Anstrichmittel, Volume 68 Issue 6, Pages 449 - 450 / DOI: 10.1002/lipi.19660680603
(2)
Preliminary Cytotoxicity Screening of Some Medicinal Plants of Bangladesh / Mohammad S Rahman et al / Dhaka Univ. J. Pharm. Sci. 7(1): 47-52, 2008 (June)
(3)
Sorting EGGPLANT & Nightshade names / /Maintained by: Michel H. Porcher / MULTILINGUAL MULTISCRIPT PLANT NAME DATABASE / Copyright © 1995 - 2020 / A Work in Progress. School of Agriculture and Food Systems. Faculty of Land & Food Resources. The University of Melbourne. Australia.
(4)
Solanum ferox / Vernacular names / GLOBinMED
(5)
Ethno medicinal plants used for oral health care in India / Pradeep Kumar R / International Journal of Herbal Medicine, 2014; 2(1): pp 81-87
(6)
Wild edible plants of Majuli island and Darrang districts of Assam / U Barua*, DK Hore & R Sarma / Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge, Vol 6(1)-January 2007, pp 191-194
(7)
Ethnomedicinal plants used by the people of Golaghat District, Assam, India / J Barukial, JN Sarmah / Int. J. Med. Arom. Plants, Vol 1, No 3, pp 203-211, Dec 2011
(8)
Short Communication: Antibacterial activity of Boesenbergia pandurata, Zingiber zerumbet and Solanum ferox extracts against Aeromonas hydrophila and Pseudomonas sp. / ESTI HANDAYANI HARDI, IRAWAN WIJAYA KUSUMA, WIWIN SUWINARTI, AGUSTINA, RUDI AGUNG NUGROHO / NUSANTARA BIOSCIENCE, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 18-21 May 2016
(9)
BIOACTIVITY STUDIES OF SOLANUM FEROX L. AGAINST TRIBOLIUM CASTANEUM (HERBST) ADULTS / M. Abdullah, M. Nesa, R. Islam, J. Banu, J. Sarkar and N. Islam / J. Life Earth Sci., 2012; Vol 7: pp 29-32 / DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jles.v7i0.20118
(10)
Solanum ferox / T. K. Lim / Edible Medicinal and Non-Medicinal Plants: Vol 6, Fruits / DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-5628-1_4
(11)
Chemical Examination of the Seed Fat of Solanum Ferox L. / S K Garg, D R Gupta / European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology, 1966 / https://doi.org/10.1002/lipi.1966068060

It is not uncommon for links on studies/sources to change. Copying and pasting the information on the search window or using the DOI (if available) will often redirect to the new link page.

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