Scientific Name: Durio zibethinus Murr.

Description: Tree grows to a height of 20 meterw or more. Leaves are dark green, smooth and shiny above, oblong to obovate-oblong, about 20 cm long, 5 to 9 cm wide. The flowers are white to white-yellowish with a pouchlike calyx. Fruit is globular, large, 15 to 25 cm long, covered by a hard shell with stiff, sharp spines. The shell breaks into five parts to which the flesh adherent, with 2 to 4 large seeds in each section covered by the flesh. The flesh is soft and whitish with the consistency of soft cheese. The flesh has a characteristic unpleasant rank and repugnant odor, a quality that bans it from hotel lobbies and rooms. The seeds are eaten, either boilede or roasted.

Traditional Uses:

• Decoction of root and leaves taken for fevers.
• Leaves are used in medicinal baths for jaundice.
• The juice is used in a solution for bathing the head of a patient with fever.
• Fruit walls used externally for skin problems.