Publication
from Agroforestree Database: a tree reference and selection guide
version 4.0
by C. Orwa, A. Mutua, R. Kindt, R. Jamnadass and S. Anthony
Pouteria
sapota (Jacq.) H.E.
Moore & Stearn
Local Names:
Creole (grand
sapotillier, otier jaune d'oeuf); English (mammee, lavazapote, mamee
sapote, mamee zapote, mamey Colorado, mamey rojo, mamey
sapote, zapotillo, mammee apple, marmalade plum, red
sapote, sapota, marmalade fruit, zapote mamey, zapote, zapote
Colorado);
French (sapotier jaune d'oeuf, grand sapotillier); Malay
(chico-mamei, chicomamey); Portuguese (zapote de carne, mamey mamey de
la
tierra); Spanish (mamey sapote, sapote, mamey rojo, mamey Colorado)
Family:
Sapotaceae
Botanic
Description
Pouteria
sapota grows
into a handsome, open tree with a thick central trunk and a few large
limbs. Mamey sapote trees are large, erect to spreading trees which may
grow to a height of about 12.2 m and may exceed 18.3 m in more tropical
regions. Leaves large, up to 30.5 cm long, 10.2 cm wide, simple, and
obovate to oblanceolate. The underside is lighter green or brownish and
pubescent (hairy) when young but becomes glabrous (smooth) when mature.
The leaves are clustered at the ends of the small branches. Depending
on the cultivar (variety) and recent crop load, trees will shed most of
the leaves in late winter or spring, but develop new leaves rapidly.
Flowers small, perfect, whitish, almost sessile flowers are produced
abundantly along smaller branches 1.3 to 5.1 cm, and tend to cluster
towards the ends. Fruit a berry, ovoid to ellipsoid in shape, with a
persistent calyx at the base. Most vary from 7.6 to 20.3 cm in length.
The skin is thick and woody with a russet brown, somewhat scurfy
surface. The pulp of mature fruits is salmon pink, orange, red or
reddish-brown in color, soft and smooth to finely granular in texture,
usually low in fiber. The pulp has a sweet, almond-like, unique flavor.
Normally, the fruit contains a single, large, elliptical seed but it
may have up to four. The seed has a shiny, hard, dark brown surface
with a light brown hilum on the ventral side. Seeds may crack and
sprout in over mature fruits. Fruit weight ranges from 0.3-2.7 kg The
name “Mamey” originated from the confusion with Mammea americana.
It
is a tropical American fruit containing a large, shiny brown seed. The
fruit in this photo is about 20 cm long. The salmon-red pulp is eaten
fresh or made into preserves, sherbets, ice creams and drinks.
(Armstrong W. P.) It is a tropical American fruit containing a large,
shiny brown seed. The fruit in this photo is about 20 cm long. The
salmon-red pulp is eaten fresh or made into preserves, sherbets, ice
creams and drinks. (Armstrong W. P.)
A
seed necklace from the Rio Napo, a tributary of the Amazon River in
Ecuador. The large, dark brown seeds are from the sapote. Some of the
seeds have been sectioned and stuffed with colorful feathers. The
half-red, half-black seeds are from a species of Ormosia (possibly
Ormosia
monosperma), a large leguminous tree of the tropical rain
forest. The small gray seeds are from a tall, annual grass called Job's
tears {Coix
lacryma-jobi E} that grows wild throughout the Old
and
New World tropics. (Armstrong W. P.)
Biology
The bloom season depends on the cultivar (variety). Trees may have
flowers, immature fruit and mature fruit all at the same time. It takes
from 13-24 months for fruit to reach maturity. Seedling trees begin to
bear fruit after 7 years or longer. Grafted trees begin to bear in 3 to
5 years. Mamey sapotes are very prolific. Mature trees may bear 200 to
500 fruit per year. Twice this amount may be obtained from large trees.
Ecology
The
mamey sapote is a tropical tree and is not tolerant of freezing
temperatures. Young trees are very vulnerable to cold and are injured
at air temperatures below 0°C. Mature trees can withstand
-2.2°C for several hours with only slight damage but are killed if
the temperature goes down below 5.6 deg C for very long.
Biophysical
Limits
Altitude: 600-1 500 m
Mean annual rainfall: about 2000 mm.
Soil
type: The mamey sapote grows well in a wide variety of well-drained
soils, from heavy clays to the limestone and sandy soils. It is
intolerant of constantly wet or flooded soil conditions. The wet soil
conditions decrease the oxygen content in the soil, causing roots to
die which weakens the tree. In addition, weakened roots are more
susceptible to attack by root rotting fungi (e.g., Pythium spp.).
Documented
Species Distribution
Native range:
Guatemala,
Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico
Exotic range:
Australia, Barbados, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Israel,
Jamaica, Malaysia, Martinique, Philippines, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago,
US, Venezuela, Vietnam
The
map above shows countries where the species has been planted. It does
neither suggest that the species can be planted in every ecological
zone within that country, nor that the species can not be planted in
other countries than those depicted. Since some tree species are
invasive, you need to follow biosafety procedures that apply to your
planting site.
Products
Food:
The mamey sapote is usually eaten in preparations where the fresh or
frozen pulp is mixed with other ingredients to make milkshakes or ice
cream. It also may be eaten fresh directly from the fruit by cutting it
lengthwise and removing the seed. It is also excellent for use in
jellies, pastes, and conserves. The seed can be milled to prepare a
bitter chocolate.
Apiculture:
The nectar of the flowers is gathered by honeybees.
Timber:
The trees are seldom cut for timber, unless they bear poor quality
fruit. There is very little sapwood. The heartwood is buff or brown
when fresh, becoming reddish with age; sometimes resembles mahogany but
is redder and more or less mottled with darker tones. It is
fine-grained, compact, generally hard and fairly heavy, strong, easy to
work and fairly durable. It is rated as suitable for cabinetwork and is
made into furniture, but mostly serves for building carts, and for
shelving and house frames.
Tannin or
dyestuff: It was used in olden times to fix the colors on
painted gourds and other articles of handicraft.
Lipids:
The seed kernel yields 45 to 60% of a white, semi-solid, vaseline-like
oil which is edible when freshly extracted and refined. It is sometimes
used in soap and considered to have a greater potential in the soap
industry, in cosmetics and pharmaceutical products.
Poison:
The seed has stupefying properties, and this may be due to its HCN
content. One is cautioned not to rub the eyes after handling the green
fruit because of the sap exuding from the cut or broken stalk. The
milky sap of the tree is highly irritant to the eyes and caustic and
vesicant on the skin. The leaves are reportedly poisonous.
Medicine:
The seed kernel oil is used as a skin ointment and as a hair dressing
believed to stop falling hair. In 1970, clinical tests at the
University of California at Los Angeles failed to reveal any
hair-growth promoting activity but confirmed that the oil of sapote
seed is effective in stopping hair-fall caused by seborrheic
dermatitis. The oil is employed as a sedative in eye and ear ailments.
The seed residue after oil extraction is applied as a poultice on
painful skin afflictions.
A seed infusion is used as an eyewash
in Cuba. In Mexico, the pulverized seed coat is reported to be a remedy
for coronary trouble and, taken with wine, is said to be helpful
against kidney stones and rheumatism. The Aztecs employed it against
epilepsy. The seed kernel is regarded as a digestive; the oil is said
to be diuretic. The bark is bitter and astringent and contains lucumin,
a cyanogenic glycoside. A decoction of the bark is taken as a pectoral.
In Costa Rica a "tea" of the bark and leaves is administered in
arteriosclerosis and hypertension. The milky sap is emetic and
anthelmintic and has been used to remove warts and fungal growths on
the skin.
Services
Ornamental: The mamey sapote is a worthy fruit not only
for commercial production but also as a fruit tree for the home
landscape, if space is not limiting.
Tree
Management
The
best time for planting is the beginning of the rainy season, especially
if there is no irrigation system or if watering trees takes too long in
large plantings. The field should be well-prepared, free of weeds, and
the irrigation system should be functional at planting.
Plant
spacing should be planned so as to provide adequate room for normal
growth for several years. Distances of at least 7.6 to 9.1 m between
rows and 4.6 to 6.1 m between trees in the row are recommended. Weed
control is essential when the trees are young, and a 5.2 to 10.2 cm
mulch around the trees is recommended to conserve moisture and reduce
weeds. Weeds should be mowed or killed with approved herbicides.
Grafted
mamey sapote trees may have one or more leaders (main trunks) with
narrow, V-shaped crotch angles. The strongest and best situated leader
should be encouraged to grow by removing all other leaders when the
tree is first planted, or preferably in the nursery. In addition, mamey
sapote trees have a tendency to produce three to four branches close to
one another on the trunk. When this occurs, it is advisable to remove
some of them so that the trees will develop a good framework of strong
branches.
Maintenance pruning involves removal of narrow-angled
(V-shaped) main branches which tend to split with heavy fruit loads.
Wide-angled branches should be selected instead. Maintenance pruning of
mature trees to remove dead or diseased branches and to limit tree size
should be done periodically. Trees kept to a height of 4.9 to 5.5 m are
easier to care for and are less susceptible to severe wind damage than
trees allowed to grow continuously in height.
Germplasm
Management
Seeds lose viability within 7 to 14 days and there is no good method
for storing seeds.
Pests and
Diseases
Few
insects attack the mamey sapote, and the damage they cause is seldom
significant. Insect pests associated include Cuban May beetle (Phyllophaga bruneri),
the Sugarcane Rootstalk Borer (Diaprepes
abbreviatus), white peach scale (Pseudaulacaspis pentagona),
Philephedra scale (Philephedra
sp.), green scale (Coccus
viridis) etc. Diseases include Anthracnose (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides
Penz), red alga (Cephaleuros
virescens Kunze). Roots may be attacked by various fungi
(e.g., Rhizoctonia
sp., Pythium splendens)
which may cause a general decline in tree vigor.
Further
Reading
J.E.
Hernándo Bermejo and J. León (eds.). 1994. Neglected
Crops: 1492 from a Different Perspective. Plant Productionand
Protection Series No. 26. FAO, Rome, Italy. p. 103-109.
Morton J. 1987. Sapote. p. 398–402. In: Fruits of warm climates. Julia
F. Morton, Miami, FL.
Narciso
A and Franklin WM. 1976. Cultivation of neglected tropical fruits with
promise Part 2. The Mamey sapote. Agricultural Research Service, US
Department of Agriculture.
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