From Common trees of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
by Elbert L. Little and Frank H. Wadsworth




Mangosteen Family (Guttiperae)

Mamey, mammee-apple
Mammea americana, L.


Mamey, a handsome wild or planted fruit tree, is best known for its brown nearly round edible fruits 3-10 inches in diameter. Other characters are: (1) an erect trunk with very dense shiny green columnar crown; (2) bark containing pale yellow latex, which is evident where cut; (3) opposite elliptic leaves 4-6 1/2 inches long and 2 1/4- 3 3/4 inches wide, thickened and leathery, glossy green to dark green above, and with numerous closely arranged, parallel lateral veins; and (4) large fragrant white flowers 1 1/4-2 inches across the usually 6 spreading petals, borne on twigs mostly back of leaves.

An evergreen tree to 60 feet high and 2 feet in trunk diameter. The brown or gray bark is smoothish to slightly fissured, inner bark light brown or pinkish and bitter. Tlie stout twigs are green when young, turning brown.

Petioles are 1/4-3/8 inch long and stout. Blades are rounded at apex and rounded or short-pointed at base, turned under slightly at edges, with veins slightly sunken on upper surface, and yellow green beneath. The leaves have gland dots visible with a hand lens against the light.

The flowers are single or a few together on stout stalks 1/4-3/4 inch long, male and female and bisexual (polygamous). The flower bud is whitish green, turning brown, round to elliptic, 1/2-5/8 long, splitting into 2 sepals about 5/8 inch long. There are 4-6, usually 6, obovate spreading white petals 3/4-1 inch long. Male flowers have in the center numerous small crowded yellow stamens 1/2 inch high and 3/4 inch across, united at base. Female flowers have a pistil composed of 2- or 4-celled ovary with short style and usually broadly 2-lobed stigma.

The fruit (berrylike) has a thick skin and firm bright yellow or reddish flesh with white sap. There are 2-4 very large oblong reddish-brown stones or seeds with rough fibrous surface. Observed in flower from May to October and with fruits during most of the year.

The sapwood is light brown, and the heartwood reddish brown. The surface of this attractive wood often is flecked with small dark oily exudations. It is hard, heavy (specific gravity 0.62), strong, medium-textured, and frequently has irregular and interlocked grain. Air-seasoning is moderate in rate but very difficult, and the amount of degrade is considerable. Machining characteristics are as follows: planing, turning, boring, and mortising are good; shaping and resistance to screw splitting are excellent; and sanding is poor.

The wood is very susceptible to attack by dry-wood termites but is moderately durable in the ground.

The scattered trees in Puerto Rico serve for fruit, fenceposts, and fuel. Elsewhere the wood is employed for some types of general construction and carpentry and for piling. The fruits are eaten raw or made into preserves and marmalades. The skin and flesh next to the seeds are bitter. In the French West Indies an aromatic liqueur, known as "eau de creole" or "creme de Creole," is distilled from the flowers. The gummy latex from the bark and the powdered seeds have been used as insecticides, to extract chiggers and insects from the skin, and to kill ticks and other parasites of dogs and other domestic animals. When twisted into the shape of a cone, the leaves serve as pots for planting tobacco seedlings and protect the young plants from root destroying insects.

The large seeds are reported to be poisonous, though not eaten by livestock. They are highly toxic to certain types of insects, to fish, and to chicks.

Planted in Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands (St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. John, and Tortola) for the edible fruits and for shade and ornament. A common tree along roadsides and fence rows. Apparently native to the moist coastal forest of Puerto Rico.

Range - Native of West Indies. Spread by cultivation over tropical America in southern Florida, Bermuda, West Indies from Bahamas and Cuba to Trinidad and Tobago, and Mexico south to Brazil and in the Old World tropics.

Other Common Names - mamee (Virgin Islands); mamey (Spanish); mamey de Santo Domingo, mamey amarillo (Cuba); zapote mamey, zapote de niho, zapote de Santo Domingo (Mexico); ruri (Nicaragua); mamey de Cartagena (Panama, Ecuador); mata-serrano (Ecuador); mamey, mammee-apple (United States, English); apricot (Dominica; abricot, abricotier (Haiti, Guadeloupe, Martinique); abricot des Antilles, abricot de Saint-Domingue, abricot pays (Guadeloupe, Martinique); mamie, abricotier, abricotier d'Amerique (French Guiana); mami, mamaya (Dutch West Indies); mammi, mamieboom, mamaja (Surinam); abrico do Para, abricoteiro (Brazil).
The generic name is derived from the native West Indian name.

Mamey

Bibliography

Little, Elbert L. and Frank H. Wadsworth. "Common trees of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands." Series: Agriculture handbook no. 249, United States. Dept. of Agriculture, July 1964, pp. 353-254, Biodiversity Heritage Library, doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.4135. Accessed 16 Jan. 2019.

Published 16 Jan. 2019 LR
Please help us do more!

© 2013 - Growables, Inc.
A not-for-profit, tax exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
about credits disclaimer sitemap friends