Averrhoa carambola Each fruit may have up to twelve 6-12.5 mm long seeds, which are flat, thin and brown. Some cultivated forms produce fruits with no seeds. The species in the genus "Averrhoa" along with the species in genus "Sarcotheca" are the only woody, tree-like plants belonging to the Oxalis family Oxalidaceae. The Oxalis family has nearly 900 species, most are herbaceous perennials or annuals native from tropical and semitropical locations though a number also grow in other parts of the world. "Averrhoa" has sometimes been placed in the family Averrhoaceae. "Averrhoa carambola" is one of two species in the genus "Averrhoa",
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