Rose apple or Malabar plum (Syzygium jambos)

The rose apple or malabar plum (Syzygium jambos) is usually grown for its fragrant edible fruit, which may be pale green, yellow or reddish. In spite of the English names, it is related neither to rose, apple or plum, but to myrtle; the simple leaves, flowers with masses of long, thin stamens and fruit with the remains of sepals at the tip, are characters of the myrtle family. Many parts of the plant have long been used in traditional medicine to treat a number of ills.��In the late 18th and early 19th centuries the East India Company controlled much of the Indian subcontinent. Keen to exploit and export valuable natural commodities, the Company set out to record the flora of India and commissioned Indian artists to create detailed botanical illustrations. Many of the plants were known through their use in Ayurvedic medicine. One of the world’s oldest medicinal systems, it has been practised in India for 3,000 years. Drawings of Indian plants and trees later named at the Royal Botanical Gardens Kew