The durian () is the edible fruit of trees in the genus Durio, most often applying to those of Durio zibethinus, the only species available on the international market. Other species are sold in their local regions.Sustainable Utilization and Conservation of Plant Genetic Diversity. (2024). Germany: Springer Nature Singapore. p. 131.
Known in some regions as the "king of fruits", the durian is distinctive for its large size, strong odour, and thorn-covered rind. The fruit can grow as large as long and in diameter, and it typically weighs . Its shape ranges from oblong to round, the colour of its husk from green to brown, and its flesh from pale yellow to red, depending on the species. The flavour of the flesh is complex with savoury notes. The texture is creamy and pudding-like.
Some people regard the durian as having a pleasantly sweet fragrance, whereas many others find the aroma overpowering and unpleasant. The persistence of its strong odour, which may linger for several days, has led some hotels and public transportation services in Southeast Asia, such as in Singapore and Bangkok, to ban the fruit. The flesh can be consumed at various stages of ripeness, and it is used to flavour a wide variety of sweet desserts and savoury dishes in Southeast Asian cuisines. The seeds can be eaten when cooked.
Etymology
The name durian is derived from the Malay word , a reference to the numerous prickly thorns on the fruit's rind, combined with the noun-building suffix .
The Oxford English Dictionary first cites the word from a 1588 translation of Juan González de Mendoza's Historie of the Great and Mightie Kingdome of China. Variant spellings, largely historical, include durion, duryoen, duroyen, durean, and dorian.
The species name of the type species, Durio zibethinus, refers either to the Italian or specifically the Indian civet, Viverra zibetha. There is disagreement over whether the name, bestowed by Carl Linnaeus, alludes to civets being fond of the durian, or whether strong pungent odour of the fruit reminded people of the smell of the animal. See also pp. 5–6 on whether Linnaeus or Murray is the correct authority for the binomial name.
Description
Durian trees are large, growing to in height depending on the species. The leaves are evergreen, elliptic to oblong and long. The flowers are produced in three to thirty clusters together on large branches and directly on the trunk, with each flower having a calyx (sepals) and five (rarely four or six) petals. Durian trees have one or two flowering and fruiting periods per year, although the timing varies depending on the species, cultivars, and localities. Durian flowers are large and feathery, with copious nectar; they give off a heavy, sour, buttery odour. These features are typical of flowers pollinated by certain species of bats that eat nectar and pollen.
A typical durian tree can bear fruit after four or five years. The fruit can hang from any branch, and matures roughly three months after pollination. The fruit can grow up to long and in diameter, and typically weighs 1 to 3 kilograms (2–7 lb). Its shape ranges from oblong to round, the colour of its husk green to brown, and its flesh pale-yellow to red, depending on the species. Among the thirty known species of Durio, eight produce edible fruits: D. zibethinus, D. dulcis, D. graveolens, D. kutejensis, D. lowianus, D. macrantha, D. oxleyanus and D. testudinarius.
Ecology Durians can be pollinated by bats (the cave nectar bat Eonycteris spelaea, the lesser short-nosed fruit bat Cynopterus brachyotis, and the large flying fox, Pteropus vampyrus). Two species, D. grandiflorus and D. oblongus, are pollinated by spiderhunter birds (Nectariniidae), while D. kutejensis is pollinated by giant honey bees and birds as well as by bats. Some scientists have hypothesised that the development of monothecate anthers and larger flowers (compared with those of the remaining genera in Durioneae) in the clade consisting of Durio, Boschia, and Cullenia was in conjunction with a transition from beetle pollination to vertebrate pollination.
Environmental impact The high demand for durians in China has prompted a shift in Malaysia from small-scale durian orchards to large-scale industrial operations. Forests are cleared to make way for large durian plantations, compounding an existing deforestation problem caused by the cultivation of oil palms. Animal species such as the small flying fox, which pollinates durian trees, and the Malayan tiger are endangered by the increasing deforestation of their habitats. In the Gua Musang District, the state government approved the conversion of of forestry, including indigenous lands of the Orang Asli, to durian plantations.
The prevalence of the Musang King and Monthong varieties in Malaysia and Thailand, respectively, has led to concerns about a decrease in the durian's genetic diversity at the expense of higher-quality varieties. A 2022 study of durian species in Kalimantan, Indonesia, found low genetic diversity, suggestive of inbreeding depression and genetic drift. Additionally, these dominant hybrid varieties are more susceptible to pests and fungal diseases, requiring the use of insecticides and fungicides that can weaken the trees.
Origin and history
The origin of the durian is thought to be in the region of Borneo and Sumatra, with wild trees in the Malay Peninsula and orchards commonly cultivated in a wide region from India to New Guinea. Four hundred years ago, it was traded across present-day Myanmar and was actively cultivated especially in Thailand and South Vietnam.
The earliest known European reference to the durian is the record of Niccolò de' Conti, who travelled to Southeast Asia in the 15th century. Translated from the Latin in which Poggio Bracciolini recorded de Conti's travels: "They [people of Sumatra] have a green fruit which they call durian, as big as a watermelon. Inside there are five things like elongated oranges, and resembling thick butter, with a combination of flavours." The Portuguese physician Garcia de Orta described durians in Colóquios dos simples e drogas da India published in 1563. In 1741, Herbarium Amboinense by the German botanist Georg Eberhard Rumphius was published, providing the most detailed and accurate account of durians for over a century. The genus Durio has a complex taxonomy that has seen the subtraction and addition of many species since it was created by Rumphius. During the early stages of its taxonomical study, there was some confusion between durian and the soursop (Annona muricata), for both of these species had thorny green fruit. The Malay name for the soursop is durian Belanda, meaning Dutch durian. In the 18th century, Johann Anton Weinmann considered the durian to belong to Castaneae as its fruit was similar to the horse chestnut.
D. zibethinus was introduced into Ceylon by the Portuguese in the 16th century and was reintroduced many times later. It has been planted in the Americas but confined to botanical gardens. The first seedlings were sent from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, to Auguste Saint-Arroman of Dominica in 1884.
In Southeast Asia, the durian has been cultivated for centuries at the village level, probably since the late 18th century, and commercially since the mid-20th century. In My Tropic Isle, Australian author and naturalist Edmund James Banfield tells how, in the early 20th century, a friend in Singapore sent him a durian seed, which he planted and cared for on his tropical island off the north coast of Queensland.
In 1949, the British botanist E. J. H. Corner published The Durian Theory, or the Origin of the Modern Tree. This proposed that endozoochory (the enticement of animals to transport seeds in their stomach) arose before any other method of seed dispersal and that primitive ancestors of Durio species were the earliest practitioners of that dispersal method, in particular red durian (D. dulcis) exemplifying the primitive fruit of flowering plants. However, in more recent circumscriptions of Durioneae, the tribe into which Durio and its sister taxa fall, fleshy arils and spiny fruits are derived within the clade. Some genera possess these characters, but others do not. The most recent molecular evidence (on which the most recent, well-supported circumscription of Durioneae is based) therefore refutes Corner's Durian Theory.
Since the early 1990s, the domestic and international demand for durian in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region has increased significantly. In the early 2020s, a durian craze in China led to a large increase in international trade of the fruit.
Cultivars
Over the centuries, numerous durian cultivars, propagated by vegetative clones, have arisen in Southeast Asia. They used to be grown, with mixed results, from seeds of trees bearing superior quality fruit. They are now propagated by layering, marcotting, or more commonly, grafting, including bud, veneer, wedge, whip and U-grafting, onto seedlings of randomly selected rootstocks. Different cultivars may be distinguished to some extent by variations in the fruit shape, such as the shape of the spines.
Malaysian varieties
The Malaysian Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry has since 1934 maintained a list of registered varieties, where each cultivar is assigned a common name and a code number starting with "D". These codes are widely used through Southeast Asia; as of 2021, there were over 200 registered varieties. Many superior cultivars have been identified through competitions held at the annual Malaysian Agriculture, Horticulture, and Agrotourism Show. There are 13 common Malaysian varieties having favourable qualities of colour, texture, odour, taste, high yield, and resistance against various diseases.
'Musang King' ('D197') was discovered in the 1980s, when a man named Tan Lai Fook from Raub, Pahang, stumbled upon a durian tree in Gua Musang, Kelantan. He brought a branch back to Raub for grafting. The cultivar was named after its place of origin. The variety has bright yellow flesh and is like a more potent or enhanced version of the 'D24'. The D24 or Sultan durian has golden yellow flesh and a rich texture and aroma. It is a popular variety in Malaysia.
Other popular cultivars in Malaysia include 'Tekka', with a distinctive yellowish core in the inner stem; 'D168' (IOI), which is round, of medium size, green and yellow outer skin, and easily dislodged flesh which is medium-thick, solid, yellow in colour, and sweet; and 'Red Prawn' (Udang Merah, 'D175'), found in the states of Pahang and Johor. The fruit is medium-sized, oval, brownish green, with short thorns. The flesh is thick, not solid, yellow-coloured, and has a sweet taste.
Indonesian varieties
Indonesia has more than 100 varieties of durian. The most cultivated species is D. zibethinus. Notable varieties are Bawor (Banyumas), Sukun (Central Java), Sitokong (Betawi), Sijapang (Betawi), Simas (Bogor), Sunan (Jepara), Si dodol and Si hijau (South Kalimantan), and Petruk (Central Java).
Thai varieties
In Thailand, 'Mon Thong' is the most commercially sought after cultivar, for its thick, full-bodied creamy and mild sweet-tasting flesh with moderate smell and smaller seeds, while 'Chanee' is most resistant to infection by Phytophthora palmivora. 'Kan Yao' is less common, but prized for its longer window of time when it is both sweet and odourless. Among the cultivars in Thailand, five are currently in large-scale commercial cultivation: 'Chanee', 'Mon Thong', 'Kan Yao', 'Ruang', and 'Kradum'.