The rambutan is a medium-sized tropical tree in the family Sapindaceae. The fruit produced by the tree is also known as rambutan.

According to popular belief and the origin of its name, rambutan is native to Indonesia and Malaysia. The earliest record of rambutan trees show that they were cultivated by the Malayan jungle tribes around their temporary settlements, a practice followed to date^. Rambutan trees grow naturally throughout Southeast Asia, although their precise natural distribution is unknown. It is closely related to several other edible tropical fruits including the lychee, longan, and mamoncillo. It is native to the Indonesian Archipelago, from whence it spread westwards to Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka and India, and northwards to Vietnam and the Philippines.

A species regularly sold in Costa Rican markets may be known as "wild" rambutan. Yellow in color, it is smaller than the usual red variety. The flesh exposed when the outer skin is peeled off is sweet and sour, slightly grape-like and gummy to the taste. In Panama and Costa Rican Spanish, it is known as mamón chino ("Chinese sucker") due to its Asian origin and the likeness of the edible part with Melicoccus bijugatus. The fruit has been successfully transplanted by grafting in Puerto Rico.

Rambutans are not a climacteric fruit — that is, they ripen only on the tree and appear not to produce a ripening agent such as the plant hormone, ethylene, after being harvested.

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