Sunday 9 December 2012

MALE AND FEMALE KAFFIR LIME LEAVES

Behold the Kaffir Lime plant that my Aunt Linda planted.  She told me that she planted it about 20 years ago and the plant has been bearing fruit regularly.  The species that she planted is of the local variety.  The one that I have at the college Herb Garden is from Thailand.
The kaffir lime or daun limau purut is very easy to distinguish as it has the shape of an 8 and a distinctive aroma.  However, I am pretty sure that many of you out there would not know how to differentiate between a male and female kaffir lime (daun limau purut) leaf.  Am I right?  Well, I did not until recently.  Let me enlighten you.
Here are some leaves from my aunt's plant.  These are female leaves as the top and bottom parts are similar in size.
I had a hard time sourcing for male kaffir lime leaves.  I was told that most of the species on sale had leaves with the top and bottom part of the same size.
Then one day while I was doing my marketing at the Kampung Koh market, I struck gold.  I came across a plant with the male leaves. The top part of the male kaffir lime leaf is larger than the bottom part.  Study the picture below and you will be able to see the difference.

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