Melicocca bijuga L.

• Title

  Melicocca bijuga L.

• Authors

  Nathaniel Lord Britton, Frances W. Horne

• Scientific Name

  Melicoccus bijugatus Jacq.

• Description

  Flora Borinqueña Melicocca bijuga Guenepa Spanish Lime Family Sapindaceae Soapberry Family Melicocca bijuga Linnaeus, Species Plantarum edition 2,405. 1762. A tree, with compound leaves of 2 pairs of leaflets only, frequent or occasional in Porto Rico, most abundant in the dryer districts at low elevations; it is a native of continental tropical America, long ago introduced into the West Indies for its round edible fruit, and naturalized. The Spanish name is also spelled Quenepa, and other English names are Genip, Kanappy and Jamaica Bullace Plum. Melicocca (Greek, honey-berry) is a genus established by Linnaeus in 1762; besides the typical species here illustrated, one other is known in South America. Melicocca bijuga (two pairs of leaflets) reaches maximum height of about 25 meters, the trunk up to 1.7 meters in diameter, with smooth, brown bark, the twigs and leaves smooth. The leaves are alternate, and stalked, the axis winged, or wingless; the 4 leaflets are opposite, stalkless, ovate or elliptic, thin, from 4 to 10 centimeters long, pointed, pinnately veined. The small, greenish white flowers are numerous in dense, slender clusters from 6 to 10 centimeters long, the individual ones on stalks about 5 millimeters long; they are mostly imperfect, some staminate, some pistillate; the 4 or 5 calyx-lobes are nearly orbicular, about 4 millimeters long, and overlap; the 4 or 5, orbicular, or obovate, ciliate petals are 3 or 4 millimeters long; there are 8 stamens with very slender filaments and small anthers; in the pistillate flowers the ovary is 2-celled, or 3-celled, the style short, the stigma 2-lobed, or 3-lobed. The green, plum-like fruit is nearly globular, from 2 to 4 centimeters in diameter, its flesh pleasantly acid, the seed with a pulpy aril.