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Description

Bignay or Antidesma bunuis is a small tropical bushy tree that is usually 3 - 6 m tall but can reach 15 -30 m high. It is also known as Chinese laurel, currant tree, and buni. It is a dioecious plant. In Asia, the dark green, long, narrow, and shiny leaves are commonly used for treating snakebites. The leaves and roots are used for traumatic injury. Bignay fruit is edible, usually eaten raw or cooked and used in jam, jellies and preserves. It is round in shape, small, juicy and has a sweet taste. Young leaves are also edible and commonly eaten raw in salads or steamed as a side dish. The bark produces strong fibre for rope and cordage. The hard, reddish timber is used for making cardboards. The bark contains a toxic alkaloid. Bignay is also used as an ornamental tree.

Antidesma bunius is an evergreen Tree growing to 10 m by 10 m at a medium rate.
It is hardy to zone 10 and is frost tender. The flowers are pollinated by Flies, insects. The plant is not self-fertile.
Suitable for: light , medium and heavy soils. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic soils and can grow in very acid, very alkaline and saline soils.
It can grow in semi-shade or no shade. It prefers moist soil.

Cultivation

Grows best in the hot, humid tropical lowlands. It thrives at elevations up to 1,200 metres in Java. The tree is not strictly tropical for it has proved to be hardy up to central Florida. Plants can tolerate occasional light frosts. Grows best in a sunny position or light shade in a fertile, moisture-retentive soil. Plants can succeed in a variety of soil conditions. Prefers a pH in the range 6 - 7, tolerating 5.5 - 8. Wind-protection is desirable when the trees are young. An abundant and invasive species in the Philippines. Trees can start producing fruit in 5 - 6 years from seed, or as little as 2 - 3 years from grafted plants. The heavy fragrance of the flowers, especially the male, is very obnoxious to some people. Plants are dioecious - there are separate male and female forms. However, female forms fruit freely even when there is no male present for pollination. One male tree should be planted for every 10 to 12 females to provide cross-pollination.

HabitatsWet evergreen forest
Habitatsdipterocarp forest and teak forest
Habitatson river banks
Habitatsat forest edges
Habitatsalong roadsides
Habitatsin bamboo thickets
Habitatsin semi-cultivated and cultivated areas
Habitatsin shady or open habitats
Habitatsusually in secondary but also in primary vegetation.
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