Careya arborea is a species of tree in the Lecythidaceae family, native to the Indian subcontinent, Afghanistan, and Indochina. Its common English names include wild guava, Ceylon oak, patana oak. Careya arborea is a deciduous tree that grows up to 15 m high. Its leaves turn red in the cold season. Flowers are yellow or white in colour that become large green berries. The tree grows throughout India in forests and grasslands.

Common names

Uses

In colonial times in India, the fibrous bark of this tree was found to be an ideal substitute for beech bark as matches for matchlocks. The Careya arborea leaves are traditionally used to roll cheroots in Myanmar (Burma). The town of Pyay (formerly Prome) is known for a local delicacy known as taw laphet (တောလက်ဖက်; lit. 'rural laphet') or laphet (နိဗ္ဗိန္ဒလက်ဖက်) that is tightly packed in parcel-like Careya arborea leaves for fermentation and preservation purposes. Flowers and young leaves are eaten as salad greens in Thailand. Young fruit is reported to be edible, though seeds are slightly poisonous.

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