Kamias is Averhoa bilimbi. This tree is a common plant in household gardens in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. Many traditional recipes of these countries include the fruits as a souring agent. Occasionally, the young fruits are eaten raw, while the mature fruits are sometimes processed as sweets. It is however traditionally dried in the Tagalog provinces to be included in fish dishes also as souring agent when it is not in the fruiting season.
A lot of medicinal uses are shown by this plant. However, the fruits have high concentration of oxallic acid that eating them raw might react unfavorably with the teeth's calcium content. Caution must be exercised in eating the raw fruits.
We have a few trees near our house and much fruits are just left to rot during the fruiting season. I didn't realize that its leaves have dramatic arrangements depending on the light conditions. The leaf angles with the midribs also vary depending on the time of the day and maybe the intensity of the sun. At noon, the leaflets droop (photo above) to limit the laminar exposure and decrease water loss.
Leaves are mostly concentrated at the growing points and arranged in a spiral distributing the leaves for most sunlight exposure. Views under the leaves are lovely too.
Again, the leaves droop at intense heat of the sun.
It is also a cauliflorous plant, with flowers arising from the trunk and branches.
Bunches of fruits arise from all parts of the trunk
The whole plant fully laden with fruits
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