Durio Lowianus Botanical Illustrations: Leaf Durians and Low's Durians

Summary: Durio lowianus botanical illustrations get evergreen-leafed, green-husked, red-flowered, yellow-fruited leaf durian and Low's durian botanical images.

flowering Low's durian (Durio lowianus): Durio team Mahidol University, CC BY 4.0 International, via Some Durio spp. (Malvaceae)

Durio lowianus botanical illustrations and leaf durian and Low's durian botanical images approach from aesthetic angles distribution ranges, life cycles and physical appearances of a more anonymous durian tree with edible fruit.

Leaf durians and Low's durians bear their common names because of bright leaf-green husks around edible fruits and the Malay word duri ("thorn") for leaf-green spines. They carry the scientific name Durio lowianus, to communicate Low's durian in Malay and Latin and to commemorate Sir Hugh Low (May 10, 1824-April 18, 1905). Their scientific designations devolve upon scientific descriptions in 1886 and 1891 by Benedetto Scortechini (1845-Nov. 4, 1886) and Sir George King (April 12, 1840-Feb. 12, 1909).

Low's durian trees embellish lowland, mixed-species dipterocarp ("two-winged fruit") rainforests up through 492.13-foot (150-meter) altitudes above sea level in peninsular Malaysia; southern Thailand; and Sumatra, Indonesia.

Leaf durian and Low's durian trees flourish more as wild than as cultivated woody plants even though they find fruit-loving followers in local and regional markets.

Whether they go by leaf durian trees or by Low's durian trees, their ripened seeds get germination rates of 100 percent within 12 to 21 days. The Malvaceae (from the Latin malva, "mallow") family member always holds its marbled, thick-packed, tiger-striped seeds within the innermost, stickiest, thinnest layer of its fleshy fruit. Leaf durian and Low's durian fruits include one to two pods in their edible interiors and involve five seamed sections for their hard, hulled, spiny exteriors.

Durio lowianus botanical illustrations juggle leaf durian and Low's durian botanical images of cake-like, chalky to creamy smooth, dense, pasty- to wet-looking, serendipitously wrinkled fruit interiors.

Leaf durian and Low's durian arils (from the Latin arillus, "dried grape") know nutty, pungent brandy-, cherry-, cigar-, Irish coffee-, mint-, praline-, rum punch-, truffle-like scents.

Leaf durian and Low's durian fruits link brown and caramelized sugar-, butter-, cherry dessert dough- and marzipan-like tastes and textures to ivory-white, tan-white or yellow flesh. Durian au, durian daun ("leaf thorn") and durian sepeh in Malaysia and thurian-don in Thailand mature within 5.91- to 9.84-inch (15- to 25-centimeter) diameter, short-stemmed husks. Their green to green-yellow exteriors net close-knit, conical, non-pyramidal, green to green-yellow, pointed-tip, semi-curved, semi-curly spines; dead petal-attached stem crowns; and green, magenta or yellow bases.

Inflorescences occur as 3.94-inch- (10-centimeter-) long cymes on 0.19- to 0.39-inch- (0.5- to 1-centimeter-) high stems behind 0.39- to 0.79-inch- (1 to 2-centimeter-) tall leaf stems.

Bell-like, tooth-edged yellow calyxes; orange-yellow stigmas; red 0.19- to 0.39-inch- (5- to 10-millimeter-) long carpels; and red 0.79- to 1.18-inch- (2- to 3-centimeter-) long petals prevail.

Annual 59.06- to 78.74-inch (1,500- to 2,000-millimeter) rainfall queues up hairy-topped, scaly-bottomed, 3.15- to 7.09-inch (8- to 18-centimeter) by 1.18- to 6.69-inch (3- to 17-centimeter) foliage. Fungi-sensitive, powder-post beetle- and termite-intolerant leaf durian and Low's durian trees realize mature 82.2- to 131.23-foot (25- to 40-meter) base-treetop heights and maximum 23.62-inch (60-centimeter) diameters. Relative humidity, soil pHs and temperatures at 80 percent, 6 to 7 and 77 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit (25 to 30 degrees Celsius) sustain leaf durians.

Buttress-rooted, evergreen-leaved Durio lowianus botanical illustrations team September through February flowers, October through January fruits and November through January seeds with brown-pink-red heartwood and brown-red-white-yellow sapwood.

closeup of flowering Low's durian (Durio lowianus), also known as durian duan, in Thailand: Durio team Mahidol University, CC BY 4.0 International, via Some Durio spp. (Malvaceae)

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

flowering Low's durian (Durio lowianus) in Thailand: Durio team Mahidol University, CC BY 4.0 International, via Some Durio spp. (Malvaceae) @ http://malvaceae.myspecies.info/sites/malvaceae.myspecies.info/files/Durio%20lowianus%20%281%20of%2018%29.jpg

closeup of flowering Low's durian (Durio lowianus), also known as durian duan, in Thailand: Durio team Mahidol University, CC BY 4.0 International, via Some Durio spp. (Malvaceae) @ http://malvaceae.myspecies.info/sites/malvaceae.myspecies.info/files/Durio%20lowianus%20%2816%20of%2018%29.jpg

For further information:

"Durio lowianus Scort. ex King." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/100327444

King, George. 1891. "Materials for a Flora of the Malayan Peninsula: 2. D. Lowianus, Scortechini MSS." (Continued from page 206 of Vol. LIX of 1890.) The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. LX, part II, no. I: 51. Calcutta, India: Asiatic Society (printed at the Baptist Mission Press).
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/53103979

Lim, T.K. (Tong Kwee). 2012. Edible Medicinal and Non-Medicinal Plants: Volume 1, Fruits. Dordrecht, Netherlands; Heidelberg, Germany; London, England; New York NY: Springer.

Kostermans, A.J.G.H. (André Guillaume Henri). "The Genus Durio Adans. (Bombac.): Durio lowianus Scort. et King. -- Fig. 15." December 1958. Reinwardtia, vol. 4, part 3: 47-150: 78-79. Kebun Raya, Indonesia: Herbarium Bogoriense.
Available via Research Center for Biology-LIPI @ https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=http://e-journal.biologi.lipi.go.id/index.php/reinwardtia/article/viewFile/1008/874

Lindsay, Gasik. 211 January 2014. Year of the Durian. Amazon Digital Services LLC.

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 October 2014. "Durio Grandiflorus Botanical Illustrations and Ghost Durian Images." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/10/durio-grandiflorus-botanical.html

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. “Type of Durio lowianus Scort. Ex King [family Bombacaceae].” JSTOR Global Plants > Herbarium Specimens > Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Available via JSTOR @ https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.k000671515

Subhadrabandhu, Suranant; and Saichol Ketsa. 2001. Durian: King of Tropical Fruit. CABI (Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International). Wellington, New Zealand: Daphne Brasell Associates.