Who found Musang King? The accounts do not agree
Malaysia's most famous durian has several origin stories, and none of the sources we read settles which one is right.
Durian stories
How varieties got their names, why the smell is the way it is, and the trouble durian has caused along the way. All sourced.
D24, Sultan and a code that seems to fit two fruits
The old Bukit Merah durian has a royal nickname, a disputed paper trail and a story about sultans that is hard to pin down.
The naturalist put off by durian, then won over
Alfred Russel Wallace was put off by the smell in Malacca and won over in a Borneo forest.
Banned from the train, immortalised on the waterfront
Singapore keeps durian off its MRT while its best-known arts centre has been nicknamed after the fruit.
Why hotels and planes get nervous about durian
Rules on durian in rooms and cargo holds come down to lingering smell, cleaning and passengers who object.
The Melbourne gas scare that turned out to be fruit
About 600 people left a university library in 2018 because of a durian forgotten in a cupboard.
Durian and alcohol: folklore, lab results and what is unknown
The old warning has some laboratory support, but the sources we read do not show that the mix is deadly.
Why a cancer lab sequenced a Musang King
Singapore scientists decoded the durian genome in 2017 and traced its smell to a family of genes.
The night shift that helps fill durian trees
Camera traps on Tioman Island showed flying foxes visiting durian flowers without the damage they are often blamed for.
From frozen pulp to fresh fruit in 36 hours
Malaysia's durian trade with China moved step by step from paste to frozen whole fruit to fresh air freight.
The Raub durian land case, as the courts and parties described it
A five-year legal dispute over Musang King orchards on Pahang state land ended when the farmers withdrew their appeals in December 2025.
Look up: the danger of a fruit that drops itself
From Wallace's Borneo to a modern Malaysian eye clinic, a falling durian can do real harm.
The single durian that sold for 1.5 million baht
Guinness World Records lists a Thai Kanyao as the costliest durian ever auctioned, though even its date differs between sources.
What happens to durian when there is too much
Tempoyak and other preserves turned seasonal gluts into food, while Orang Asli links to durian are documented mainly through land disputes.