Karvanda (Carissa L.): an underutilized minor fruit of India

摘要

Karvanda (Carissa L.) is a fruit-yielding shrub of considerable socioeconomic value. A genus of more than 60 species, it is distributed mostly in warm parts of Africa, Australia and Asia (Anonymous 1885-1990). Hooker (1882) described five species of Carissa from the Indian subcontinent with special note that the species in the area are very difficult to define and probably can be reduced to one or two quite variable types. Cooke (1967) described four species from Bombay Presidency: C. carandas L., the most common species, distributed throughout the region; C. spinarum L., C. inermis Vahl and C. sauvissima Bedd., ex Hook, from southern regions. In addition, species introduced from Africa, namely C. bispinosa (L.) Merxm. and C. gmndiflora Bert. Ex A.DC. are occasionally cultivated in gardens. Talbot (1911) also recorded the occurrence of four species from Bombay Presidency with remarks that all four species are closely allied, apparently differing only in growth habit, leaves and size of flowers andfruits. Santapau (1960) described C. congesta Wt. and C. carandas L., stating that only the former occurred widely and in the wild in India. He also recorded infraspecific variability on the basis of fruiting characters: one form has small fruits in which the sweetness improves when they are over-ripe, whereas the other form has large fruits, deteriorates quickly when over-ripe and has a taste similar to fermenting sugar.