Spondias

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Spondias
Starr 071024-0339 Spondias mombin.jpg
Fruiting Spondias mombin
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Anacardiaceae
Subfamily: Spondiadoideae
Genus: Spondias
L.
Type species
Spondias mombin
L.
Species

See Selected species

Synonyms

Allospondias(Pierre) Stapf
SkoliostigmaLauterb. [1]

Contents

Spondias is a genus of flowering plants in the cashew family, Anacardiaceae. The genus consists of 17 described species, 7 of which are native to the Neotropics and about 10 are native to tropical Asia. They are commonly named hog plums, Spanish plums, libas in Bikol and in some cases golden apples for their brightly colored fruit which resemble an apple or small plum at a casual glance. They are only distantly related to apple and plum trees, however. A more unequivocal common name is mombins.

Spondias dulcis, fruit, section and seed 2014-10-11 Spondias dulcis Goldpflaume anagoria.JPG
Spondias dulcis, fruit, section and seed

A theory regarding the name of the city of Bangkok, Thailand is that the name is derived from Thai : -มะกอกน้ำ; RTGS: makok nam 'water olive', the Thai name for the fruit of Spondias dulcis . [2] In Cambodia, Spondias pinnata is called /pɷːn siː pʰlaɛ/ (ពោនស៊ីផ្លែ) or /məkaʔ prẹj/ (ម្កាក់ព្រៃ), [3] and Spondias dulcis simply /məkaʔ/ (ម្កាក់). Spondias pinnata is called Pulicha kaai in the Tamil language, which means "sour fruit." It is also called "Amate Kaai" in the Kannada language, Ambade in Tulu and Konkani. In Sri Lanka it is called Amberella. In Bangladesh it is known as Aamra (আমড়া) and when served with seasonings it is a very popular street food.

Description

They are deciduous or semi-evergreen trees growing to 25 m tall. The leaves are spirally arranged, pinnate, rarely bipinnate or simple. The fruit is a drupe similar to a small mango (in the related genus Mangifera ), 4–10 cm long, ripening yellow or orange. It has a single seed.

The Malesian species of Spondias were revised by Ding Hou in 1978. [4] The most recently recognized species, Spondias testudinis , was described in 1998. [5]

As food

Preserved ma-kok, sweet and sour with chili Ma-kok.jpg
Preserved ma-kok, sweet and sour with chili

About 10 species of Spondias bear edible fruits and have been domesticated for fruit production. These fruits are also consumed by herbivorous mammals such as deer.

In the Western Ghats of Karnataka flower buds and tender fruits are used in pickle preparation. In Thai cuisine both the fruits and the tender leaves are eaten. In Odisha its called ambada, the fruit is used as a souring agent in curries.

Selected species

As of July 2020, Plants of the World online has 19 accepted species: [6]

Selected synonyms include:

Related Research Articles

<i>Mangifera</i> Genus of flowering plants in the cashew family

Mangifera is a genus of flowering plants in the cashew family, Anacardiaceae. It contains about 69 species, with the best-known being the common mango. The center of diversity of the genus is in the Malesian ecoregion of Southeast Asia, particularly in Sumatra, Borneo, and the Malay peninsula. They are generally canopy trees in lowland rainforests, reaching a height of 30–40 m (98–131 ft).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drupe</span> Fleshy fruit with hard inner layer (endocarp or stone) surrounding the seed

In botany, a drupe is an indehiscent type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a single shell of hardened endocarp with a seed (kernel) inside. These fruits usually develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries. Xylem fibres are dead and xylem parenchyma are living

<i>Prunus</i> Genus of trees and shrubs

Prunus is a genus of trees and shrubs, which includes the fruits plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and almonds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anacardiaceae</span> Family of flowering plants that includes cashew and mango

The Anacardiaceae, commonly known as the cashew family or sumac family, are a family of flowering plants, including about 83 genera with about 860 known species. Members of the Anacardiaceae bear fruits that are drupes and in some cases produce urushiol, an irritant. The Anacardiaceae include numerous genera, several of which are economically important, notably cashew, mango, Chinese lacquer tree, yellow mombin, Peruvian pepper, poison ivy, poison oak, sumac, smoke tree, marula and cuachalalate. The genus Pistacia is now included, but was previously placed in its own family, the Pistaciaceae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guava</span> Tropical fruit

Guava is a common tropical fruit cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions. The common guava Psidium guajava is a small tree in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae), native to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America. The name guava is also given to some other species in the genus Psidium such as strawberry guava and to the pineapple guava, Feijoa sellowiana. In 2019, 55 million tonnes of guavas were produced worldwide, led by India with 45% of the total. Botanically, guavas are berries.

<i>Antidesma</i> Genus of flowering plants

Antidesma is a genus of tropical plant in the family Phyllanthaceae formally described by Linnaeus in 1753. It is native to tropical Africa, S + E + SE Asia, Australia, and various oceanic islands. The greatest diversity occurs in Southeast Asia.

<i>Diospyros</i> Genus of trees and shrubs

Diospyros is a genus of over 700 species of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs. The majority are native to the tropics, with only a few species extending into temperate regions. Individual species valued for their hard, heavy, dark timber, are commonly known as ebony trees, while others are valued for their fruit and known as persimmon trees. Some are useful as ornamentals and many are of local ecological importance. Species of this genus are generally dioecious, with separate male and female plants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sapotaceae</span> Family of flowering plants

The Sapotaceae are a family of flowering plants belonging to the order Ericales. The family includes about 800 species of evergreen trees and shrubs in around 65 genera. Their distribution is pantropical.

<i>Syzygium</i> Genus of plants

Syzygium is a genus of flowering plants that belongs to the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. The genus comprises about 1200 species, and has a native range that extends from Africa and Madagascar through southern Asia east through the Pacific. Its highest levels of diversity occur from Malaysia to northeastern Australia, where many species are very poorly known and many more have not been described taxonomically. One indication of this diversity is in leaf size, ranging from as little as a half inch to as great as 4 ft 11 inches by sixteen inches in Syzygium acre of New Caledonia.

<i>Spondias purpurea</i> Species of plant

Spondias purpura is a species of flowering plant in the cashew family, Anacardiaceae, that is native to tropical regions of the Americas, from Mexico to northern Colombia and the southwest Caribbean Islands. It has also been introduced to and naturalized to other parts of the American tropics, Southeast Asia, and West Africa. It is commonly known as jocote, which derives from the Nahuatl word xocotl, meaning any kind of sour or acidic fruit. Other common names include red mombin, Spanish plum, purple mombin, Jamaica plum, and hog plum.

<i>Spondias mombin</i> Species of tree

Spondias mombin, also known as yellow mombin, hog plum or amra, is a species of tree and flowering plant in the family Anacardiaceae. It is native to the tropical Americas, including the West Indies. The tree was introduced by the Portuguese in South Asia in the beginning of the 17th century. It has been naturalized in parts of Africa, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, The Bahamas, Indonesia, and other Caribbean islands. It is rarely cultivated except in parts of the Brazilian Northeast.

Hog plum is a common name for several plants that produce edible fruit, and may refer to:

<i>Syzygium jambos</i> Species of fruit and plant

Syzygium jambos is a species of rose apple originating in Southeast Asia and occurring widely elsewhere, having been introduced as an ornamental and fruit tree.

<i>Pleiogynium timoriense</i> Species of tree in the family Anacardiaceae

Pleiogynium timoriense, commonly known as the Burdekin plum, sweet plum, tulip plum, or in the Djabugay language guybalum is a medium-sized fruit-bearing tree in the family Anacardiaceae native to Malesia, Australia and the Pacific Islands.

<i>Spondias dulcis</i> Species of tree

Spondias dulcis, known commonly as June plum, is a tropical tree, with edible fruit containing a fibrous pit. In the English-speaking Caribbean it is typically known as golden apple and elsewhere in the Caribbean as pommecythere or cythere. In Polynesia it is known as vī.

<i>Carissa spinarum</i> Species of shrub

Carissa spinarum, the conkerberry or bush plum, is a large shrub of the dogbane family (Apocynaceae), widely distributed in tropical regions of Africa, Southern Asia, Australia, and various islands of the Indian Ocean. It is most well known in Australia, where it is also called currant bush or, more ambiguously, native currant or even black currant. It is, however, neither closely related to plums (Prunus) nor to true currants (Ribes), which belong to entirely different lineages of eudicots. In India, it is also called wild karanda /wild karavanda, referring to the related karanda. Carissa spinarum is often discussed under its many obsolete synonyms.

<i>Dracontomelon</i> Genus of fruits and plants

Dracontomelon is a genus of flowering plants in the family Anacardiaceae, growing mostly in SE Asia and the Pacific islands. The fruit may be used in local cuisine, especially as souring agents.

<i>Micromelum</i> Genus of flowering plants

Micromelum is a genus of eight species of flowering plants in the family Rutaceae.

<i>Spondias pinnata</i> Species of tree

Spondias pinnata, sometimes also known as hog plum, is a species of tree with edible sour fruits. It is native to the Philippines and Indonesia, but has been widely naturalized in South Asia, Mainland Southeast Asia, Southern China, and the Solomon Islands. It belongs to the family Anacardiaceae. This species, among several others, has sometimes called the "wild mango" in other languages and was once placed in the genus Mangifera. It is found in lowlands and hill forests up to 1,200 m (3,900 ft).

References

  1. "Spondias L." Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2009-11-23. Retrieved 2010-02-12.
  2. "ชั้นและตำบลที่ตั้งวัด" Archived 2011-06-23 at the Wayback Machine , watarun.org, accessed March 29, 2011.
  3. LETI, Mathieu, HUL Sovanmoly, Jean-Gabriel FOUCHÉ, CHENG Sun Kaing, Bruno DAVID, Flore photographique du Cambodge, Paris: Privat, 2013, p. 63.
  4. Flora Malesiana series 1, 8(3):395-577.
  5. John D. Mitchell and Douglas C. Daly. 1998. "The "tortoise's cajá" - a new species of Spondias (Anacardiaceae) from southwestern Amazonia" Brittonia50( ):447-451.
  6. Kew Science Plants of the World Online , retrieved 14 July 2020

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