Averrhoa carambola both have edible fruit; the other species "Averrhoa bilimbi", which is sometimes called the Bilimbi or the Cucumber Tree, is limited to tropical regions. The fruits of "A. bilimbi" are too sour to be eaten raw, while the sweet forms "A. carambola" are eaten raw. The fruits of "A. bilimbi" and the sour forms, which have high oxalic acid content, of "A. carambola" are pickled and made into jelly, jam, and juice. The genus was named after Abū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad bin Aḥmad bin Rushd (better known just as Ibn Rushd), who was called Averroes in European literature - a famous
Common name or coinages; such names generally are difficult for laymen to learn, remember, and pronounce and so, in such books as field guides, biologists commonly publish lists of coined common names. Many examples of such common names simply are attempts to translate the Latinised name into English or some other vernacular. Such translation may be confusing in itself, or confusingly inaccurate, for example, "gratiosus" does not mean "gracile" and "gracilis" does not mean "graceful". The practice of coining common names has long been discouraged; de Candolle's "Laws of Botanical Nomenclature", 1868, the non-binding recommendations that form the basis of the modern