Manilkara zapota (L.) P.Royen
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Authority
Pennington, Terence D. 1990. Sapotaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 52: 1-750. (Published by NYBG Press)
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Family
Sapotaceae
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Scientific Name
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Synonyms
Achras zapota L., Achras mammosa L., Achras sapota L., Achras zapota var. zapotilla Jacq., Sapota achras Mill., Lucuma mammosa var. ovoideum A.DC., Achras sapota var. globosa Stokes, Achras sapota var. ovalis Stokes, Achras cosaguico, Sapota achras var. sphaerica A.DC., Sapota achras var. lobata A.DC., Achras zapotilla (Jacq.) Nutt., Vitellaria mammosa (L.) Radlk., Achras sapota f. asperrima M.Gómez, Calospermum mammosum Pierre, Calocarpum mammosum (L.) Pierre, Sapota achras var. sphaerica A.DC., Sapota achras var. lobata A.DC., Achras sapota var. pedicellaris Pierre, Achras sapota var. candollei Pierre, Mimusops grisebachii Pierre, Sapota zapotilla (Jacq.) Coville ex Saff., Acradelpha mammosa (L.) O.F.Cook, Manilkara grisebachii (Pierre) Dubard, Manilkara zapotilla (Jacq.) Gilly, Manilkara tabogaensis Gilly, Manilkara striata Gilly, Manilkara rojasii Gilly, Manilkara meridionalis Gilly, Manilkara meridionalis var. caribbensis Gilly, Manilkara calderonii Gilly, Manilkara conzattii Gilly, Manilkara gaumeri Gilly, Manilkara breviloba Gilly, Nispero achras (Mill.) Aubrév., Achras meridionalis (Gilly) Lundell, Achras rojasii (Gilly) Lundell, Achras striata (Gilly) Lundell, Achras tabogaensis (Gilly) Lundell, Achras breviloba (Gilly) Lundell, Achras calderonii (Gilly) Lundell, Achras conzattii (Gilly) Lundell, Achras gaumeri (Gilly) Lundell, Manilkariopsis meridionalis (Gilly) Lundell, Manilkariopsis petenensis Lundell, Manilkariopsis rojasii (Gilly) Lundell, Manilkariopsis striata (Gilly) Lundell, Manilkariopsis tabogaensis (Gilly) Lundell, Manilkariopsis lobulata Lundell, Achras lobulata (Lundell) Lundell, Achras petenensis (Lundell) Lundell, Achras coriacea Lundell, Achras dactylina Lundell, Achras latiloba Lundell, Achras paludosa Lundell, Achras tainteriana Lundell, Manilkara achras (Mill.) Fosberg
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Description
Species Description - Tree; young growth shortly tomentose with loose rich brown hairs, soon becoming glabrous, pale, rough, cracked or fissured, lenticellate. Stipules absent. Leaves 6.6-14.4 × 2.1-5.2 cm, usually elliptic or oblong-elliptic, less frequently oblanceolate, apex acute or narrowly attenuate, less frequently obtuse or rounded, base narrowly attenuate or acute, glabrous above, lower surface with residual brown tomentum along the midrib, or glabrous, chartaceous; midrib slightly prominent on the upper surface, or flat or slightly sunken; secondaries 15-23 pairs, higher order venation finely areolate. Petiole 1-3 cm long, slightly channelled in the upper part, shortly tomentose to glabrous. Flowers solitary. Pedicel 0.8-2 cm long, shortly tomentose. Sepals (6.5-)7-9.5 mm long, ovate to lanceolate, apex acute to obtuse, apex of inner whorl obtuse to rounded, outer surface of outer whorl shortly tomentose, inner whorl puberulous, inner surface of both whorls appressed puberulous near the margin. Corolla (7-)8-11 mm long, tube 4-6(-7) mm long, nearly always equalling or exceeding the lobes; lobes six(-seven), entire or irregularly 2-3-toothed or divided, or regularly divided into a narrow slightly boat-shaped and sometimes clawed median segment and two broader lateral segments, usually glabrous, occasionally pubescent at the apex of the lobes or on the outside of the tube below the insertion of the staminodes. Stamens six, glabrous; filaments 0.75-1.5 mm long, sometimes strongly incurved; anthers 1.5-2 mm long, narrowly lanceolate, glabrous. Staminodes six, (2-) 2.5-5 mm long, oblong, elliptic or lanceolate, rarely clawed, often thickened and with a rounded adaxial keel, apex entire, toothed or rarely two-lobed or truncate, usually glabrous, occasionally pubescent on the abaxial surface. Ovary broadly ovoid to conical, often sunken in a fleshy annulus, 8-12-locular, densely pubescent; style 5-9 mm long after anthesis, glabrous. Fruit 3.58 × 3-6 cm, broadly ovoid or ellipsoid, apex obtuse to rounded, base rounded to truncate, rough-skinned and scaly. Seeds 2-10,1.5-2.5 cm long, strongly laterally compressed, with a hard smooth shining testa 1-2 mm thick; scar adaxial or basi-ventral, narrow, 1-1.5 × 0.1-0.2 cm. Field characters. A tree to 45 m high and 125 cm diam., without buttresses but often slightly fluted near the base. The bark is light grey to dark brown, dependent on situation, deeply and regularly fissured and grid-cracked. The inner bark is pinkish and contains sticky white latex. Mature trees throughout the range are recognised by the diagonal scars on the trunk indicating the incisions made by chicle collectors. The crown is dense, dark green with conspicuous sympodial branching in which the leaves are clustered at the shoot apices. Young specimens often have whorled branches. The sweetly scented flowers are greenish-white or cream, and the fruits pale brown, rough-skinned and scaly, containing abundant latex when immature.
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Discussion
On the Gulf coast of SE Mexico, and in Guatemala and Belize it is one of the codominant species in the upper storey of evergreen lowland forest (selva alta perennifolia) and in semi-evergreen forest (selva alta subperennifolia, selva mediana sub-perennifolia), often associated with Brosimum alicastrum, Terminalia amazonica, Guatteria anomala, Swietenia macrophylla and Dialium guianense. On the Pacific drainage of Mexico it is found in semideciduous forest (selva mediana subcaducifolia). It is tolerant of a wide range of soils, provided there is good drainage. Altitudinal range sea level to ca. 800 metres.
This species is the source of two economic products of major importance. The latex which provides chicle or chewing gum has been tapped in the Yucatan Peninsula for many years (Lundell, 1933, 1975c: 169-175). With the introduction of synthetic substitutes the industry has diminished in recent years but is still carried on to a limited extent in Campeche and northern Chiapas (see for example Pride, 1978:110). The chicle collectors (chicleros) of Belize recognize three varieties, bianco (white), Colorado (red) and morado (blue), but in an analysis of leaf variation within a population containing all three types, Egler (1944) found no basis for dividing the population and concluded that it constituted a single normally variable species.The tree has always been protected for its edible fruit, which in season is sold in great quantities in the markets. As with most edible sapotaceous fruits, its size and quality are very variable, and if not perfectly ripe they contain an unpleasant amount of sticky latex. However the best fruit are very good indeed and becoming popular in other parts of the tropics. Until recently it was thought unsuitable as an orchard tree due to its large size and slowness to fruit, but when it was discovered that cuttings from mature branches flowered and fruited within a few years, commercial growers took more interest in the species and it is now extensively cultivated in SE Asia, and some of the best selected fruit are now to be found in Thailand, from where it is exported to Europe.The very durable and resistant timber has been used extensively since early Mayan times for construction and many other local uses, but the species is now protected for its fruit in the Yucatan Peninsula and its exploitation for forestry purposes is prohibited (Pennington & Sarukhán, 1968: 344). Manilkara zapota as defined here includes individuals with divided corolla lobes formerly included in M. meridionalis. Throughout the natural range of the species (Mexico to Nicaragua) the corolla lobes of M. zapota are usually undivided or slightly toothed at the apex. However in S Yucatan Peninsula, especially Peten, Guatemala, and adjacent Belize, there occur individuals in which the corolla lobes may be toothed at the apex, or more deeply 2-3-lobed, or regularly divided into a narrow median segment and two broader lateral segments. The numerous recent collections from Guatemala demonstrate quite clearly that this variation is more or less continuous, uncorrelated with any other character differences, and that the degree of lobing is not always constant within an individual, and is therefore not suitable for formal subdivision.Manilkara meridionalis was described from a cultivated plant from the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, well outside the known range of M. zapota. The only native Manilkara in this region is M. chicle. I recently collected a series of plants from around the type locality of M. meridionalis and elsewhere in Costa Rica and found that although most individuals have divided corolla lobes the degree of division varies considerably, often within an individual. It would appear that all specimens from Costa Rica, Panama and the West Indies, formerly included in M. meridionalis, are from cultivated plants, and this fact may explain the predominance of divided corolla lobes in these plants. A minor variation like the division of the corolla lobes could persist under cultivation, but it may be selected against and eliminated in wild populations, and it therefore may be significant that the other area in which division of corolla lobes is common, the southern Yucatan Peninsula, has been subject to disturbance and cultivation by the Mayan people for hundreds of years. Manilkara zapota has always been protected by these people because of its valuable timber and highly appreciated fruit.The other floral variations, such as the shape and size of the staminodes, and the occasional presence of indumentum on the corolla or staminodes, which have formed the basis of several recently described species (see synonymy), are regarded as no more than the normal intraspecific variation to be expected in an outbreeding species.Phenology: Flowering of this species is recorded from Feb to Oct, with peaks from Mar to Jun and from Sep to Oct, and mature fruits occur between Dec and Mar.
Distribution and Ecology: Manilkara zapota has been widely cultivated for its fruit for many years throughout Central America and the West Indies and its original area of distribution is uncertain. However, it appears to be native only in Mexico (both Pacific and Gulf coasts), Guatemala (Alta Verapaz, Peten), Belize and the Atlantic coast forests of Nicaragua. The status of the few collections from El Salvador is uncertain. No native collections have been seen from Honduras or Costa Rica, and in the light of extensive fieldwork in the latter country, it appears to occur there only as a cultivated tree. Elsewhere in the region (Panama, Caribbean Islands, S. America) it is not native, but widely cultivated and occasionally appears in semi-natural vegetation.
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Common Names
canistel, chicle, chicle zapote, chico, chico zapote, mespel sapodilla, nasebery, níspero, red sapodilla, sapodilla, sapotillier, ya, yaa, Zapote, zapote bianco, zapote Colorado, zapote morado
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Objects
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Distribution
Mexico North America| Campeche Mexico North America| Colima Mexico North America| Chiapas Mexico North America| Guerrero Mexico North America| Nayarit Mexico North America| Oaxaca Mexico North America| Quintana Roo Mexico North America| San Luis Potosí Mexico North America| Tabasco Mexico North America| Veracruz Mexico North America| Yucatán Mexico North America| Guatemala Central America| Alta Verapaz Guatemala Central America| Petén Guatemala Central America| Belize Central America| Orange Walk Belize Central America| Toledo Belize Central America| El Salvador Central America| Nicaragua Central America| Carazo Nicaragua Central America|