Plums are sweet and juicy fruits belonging to the same family as apricots, peaches, and nectarines. There are various colors of plums, but we’ll be discussing plums with purple flesh. There are different ways to consume plums. Some turn them into jam, eat them raw, or make dried plums for easy preservation.
The indigenous people of Australia use plum fruits and some parts of plum trees to treat problems like mosquito bites, skin sores, flu, colds, and headaches. Plums are rich in Vitamin that help your body heal, heal blood vessels, and build muscle. This purple fruit also improves digestive health by preventing constipation with its natural sugar alcohol acting as a natural laxative.
Purple star apples are also known as caimito or cainito. The apple got its name from the shape formed by the seeds inside it. Star apples are delicious. They have a pulpy and jelly-like texture. Some compare its taste to applesauce and grapes grown in tropical areas.
The star apple is a close relative of egg fruit, mamey, sapote, and sapodilla. You can purchase purple star apples at Hispanic and Asian markets in the United States. They are also available at farmer's markets in areas that grow these purple fruits.
Mangosteen is a small fruit that grows in Southeast Asia. It has a purple color and juicy white insides. People from Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines eat it raw like other fruits, juice it, and use it as traditional medicine.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to get mangosteen in the United States because the mangosteen tree needs to grow in tropical areas and requires lots of time to mature. This purple fruit is beneficial for human consumption because it contains diverse nutrients and can reduce inflammation and other health risks.
Purple grapes are native to regions with cold temperatures. They have thick skin, many seeds, and a strong flavor. Concord grapes are rich in anthocyanins, an antioxidant responsible for their purple color. Most people usually consume them in juice and jam forms.
International Orangutan Day highlights the direct effects of our actions on the gentle giants of the treetops. Their actual populations have dwindled over the past 60 years, with over half being lost largely due to the encroachment of the palm oil industry in their native habitats like Borneo and Sumatra.
Worrying still, we have to consider that their numbers might be lower than what we know, with the rapid clearing of forests for palm oil plantations. This day serves as a call to action - to individuals, communities, and policymakers - to seriously address the dire situation these forest dwellers face in their homes.
By observing this day, we're reminded of the interplay of different life forms on our planet and why biodiversity matters for the health of our Earth.
Fun Facts about Orangutans
Orangutans are the world's largest arboreal mammals. They spend 90% of their time in trees, using their long arms to swing from branch to branch.
These red apes can use tools in the wild, such as sticks, to extract honey or insects from trees and learn sign language.
Female orangutans have the longest interbirth interval of any land mammal. Female orangutans give birth to one baby at a time and wait up to eight years between pregnancies.
In its latest reports, the IUCN Red List continued to categorize the three orangutan species (Bornean, Sumatran, Tapanuli) as Critically Endangered.
The Bornean Orangutan population has experienced a devastating decrease of over 60% from 1950 to 2010, with a predicted extra decline of 22% by 2025, marking a total loss of more than 82% within only three generations1.
The estimated population of Sumatran Orangutans is 13,846, and 98.5% live in protected areas2.
Since 1985, the population of the Tapanuli Orangutan—the least numerous of all great ape species—has alarmingly dwindled from an estimated 1,489 to less than 800 in 2016, with projections dipping to just 257 individuals by 20603.
Conservation Initiatives
The Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Foundation focuses on rescuing, rehabilitating, and reintroducing orangutans into the wild. They also work on habitat conservation and education initiatives to raise awareness about the plight of orangutans.
Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) conserves orangutans and their habitat. OFI runs an orphan care center in Borneo and conducts extensive research on orangutans.
The Orangutan Project (TOP) protects orangutans and preserves their habitat. They fund projects focusing on rescue and rehabilitation, habitat protection, and community partnerships.
Orangutan Outreach protects orangutans through rescue, rehabilitation, release programs, public awareness campaigns, and rainforest conservation initiatives.
The UNEP launched the Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) in 2001 to ensure the long-term survival of orangutans and other great apes and their natural habitat in both Africa and Asia.
It is not mandatory, but trimming is essential if you want to keep your tamarind tree healthy. Simply remove misplaced branches by cutting them off at their base or just above a branch. It can be done throughout the year.
Delicious tamarind is a slow-growing, long-lived, tropical tree reaching, under favorable conditions, a height of 40 or even 70 feet with a spread of 30 feet and a trunk that can reach a circumference of 15 feet. Highly wind resistant, the strong supple branches droop gracefully at the ends are blanketed in a mass of bright green fine, feathery foliage composed of narrow 3 to 6 inch long leaves. Inconspicuous flowers are 1 inch wide with yellow petals that may have orange or red streaks. The fruit is a beanlike bulging cinnamon brown colored pod that holds within a tart sticky paste like pulp around the seed. When ripe the outer pod skin becomes brittle and easy to crack making extraction of the dried pulp much easier.
Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) is a leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is probably indigenous to tropical Africa. The genus Tamarindus is monotypic, meaning that it contains only this species. It belongs to the family Fabaceae.
