Oxalis barrelieri L.

Belimbingan (Oxalis barrelieri) is a herb 15-60 cm tall from the Oxalidaceae family that originates from the West Indies and tropical South America, first observed in Java in 1888. Its sour leaves can be eaten as salad though they need to be cooked first to reduce oxalic acid content. The people of Cameroon traditionally use belimbingan to treat diarrhea.

Oxalis barrelieri is often found growing as a weed along roadsides, cultivated land, plantations, along roads, fences, along rivers, at elevations of 900-1,220 m asl. This plant is suited to light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soil types and prefers well-drained, moist soil and cannot grow in shaded places.

• Roots taproot.
• Stem cylindrical, smooth, greenish-brown, upright, branched.
• Leaves compound, consisting of 3 leaflets (trifoliate) that are ovate, rounded base and rounded tip, smooth leaf margin, long petiole, alternate or scattered leaf arrangement.
• Flowers trumpet-shaped, white, pink or purplish with a bright yellow throat, has 5 lobes with rounded to truncate tips, calyx greenish with yellowish spots. Inflorescence compound with a long panicle stalk growing in the leaf axils.
• Fruit a capsule, ovate to oblong, ending bluntly at each tip, 11 mm long and 4.5 mm in diameter, 5-angled.
• Seeds 3 per carpel, long, flattened-ovate, pointed, wrinkled.

Propagation generatively using seeds.

Phenol, terpenoid, flavonoid, tannin, alkaloid, anthocyanidins, anthraquinone, coumarin, and saponin.

Heals diarrhea, speeds wound healing, burns, cuts, insect bites, sores, addresses prickly heat, an herbal remedy for urinary tract infections, remedy for chronic hepatitis, promotes menstruation, reduces fever, treats high blood pressure, relieves colds, diarrhea, treats inflammation of the kidney, liver, respiratory tract.

Belimbing tanah, Blimbing-blimbingan (Java), Cacalincingan (Sunda), Calincing tanah.