Clausena lansium Seeds | (wampee)
LATIN NAME: Clausena lansium
COMMON NAME: Wampee
Plant Profile
Wampee is a small evergreen tree of the rue family from southern China and Vietnam, grown for clusters of golden fruit that hang in bunches like grapes. It reaches four to eight metres, with a rounded crown, pinnate leaves of five to eleven glossy leaflets and panicles of small, pale flowers in late winter. The fruit is the size of a grape, with a thin, slightly downy skin, translucent flesh in segments and two or three large green seeds. The flavour is between a grape and a lime, sweet and sharp at once, and it is eaten fresh, candied or dried. In Guangdong it is a common door-yard tree, and old specimens are often the largest thing in a village garden.
Science & Biotechnology
Clausena is a genus of about thirty species in the citrus family, and wampee is the only one grown widely for fruit. The genus sits in the Clauseneae, a tribe that also holds Murraya, and molecular work places it closer to the ancestral citrus stock than the edible citrus species themselves. The fruit stores badly, softening within days of picking, which is why it has never become an export crop despite its quality. Research has focused on the leaves and roots rather than the fruit: they carry carbazole alkaloids, including clausine and murrayanine, a class of compound with reported anticancer and antimicrobial activity in laboratory work. Seed viability is short, measured in days rather than months, and the seed is recalcitrant, so it cannot be dried for storage.
Uses & Benefits
The fruit is eaten out of hand, and in China it is also salted, sugared and dried into a snack sold in jars, or boiled into a sour-sweet sauce for meat. Unripe fruit is pickled whole. The leaves are used as a flavouring in some southern Chinese kitchens and in folk medicine as a tonic for the stomach, and the root bark is used in the same tradition for coughs. As a garden tree, wampee is compact, evergreen and ornamental, with a scent of citrus in the leaves when they are crushed, and it fruits in a pot when young. It is a good choice for a warm, sheltered courtyard where a lemon would be too large and too demanding.
Growing from Seed
Sow within a week of eating the fruit, because the seed dies if it dries. Wash off the pulp, and sow two centimetres deep in a loam and grit mix, keeping the pot at twenty-five degrees. Germination takes three to five weeks. The seedling is slow for the first year and then accelerates; pot it on before the roots circle. Grow in bright light with some protection from midday sun when young, and water steadily without letting the compost stay wet. Plant out only where frost is rare, or keep the tree in a large pot and move it under cover for winter. Prune lightly after harvest to keep the crown open.
Our Take
A courtyard tree with fruit like sour grapes and a scent in the leaves. Compact, evergreen and quick to bear in a pot.
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