Musang King was originally known as
Raja Kunyit, meaning "Turmeric King", a reference to the fruit's
turmeric-colored deep yellow flesh. The first Raja Kunyit tree was planted by a farmer in 1970 at Pulau Raya, Tanah Merah, Kelantan before it was "moved" to Gua Musang. In the 1980s, a man named Tan Lai Fook from
Raub, Pahang stumbled upon a Raja Kunyit durian tree in
Gua Musang,
Kelantan,
Malaysia. He brought a branch of the tree back to Raub for grafting, and this new breed attracted other cultivators. The cultivar was named after Gua Musang, its place of origin. Musang King has been assigned the cultivar ID D197. The Chinese name, literally "Cat Mountain King", may be either a phonetic rendering of
musang or a reference to its Malay meaning, the cat-like
Asian palm civet. In 2017, Musang King became the first variety of durian to have its
genome sequenced. The sequencing showed
upregulation of pathways related to
sulfur,
lipid oxidation and
ethylene when compared to both other fruits and other durian cultivars like Mon Thong, which correlates with the pungency and stronger perceived taste and smell of the cultivar. ==Characteristics==