Red mombin plum
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Red mombin plum ( Spondias purpurea ) |
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The red mombin plum ( Spondias purpurea ), also called jocote , is a flowering plant of the sumac family . The name "Jocote" comes from the word Xocotl ("fruit") from the Nahuatl .
description
The semi- evergreen or deciduous deciduous tree can grow up to 25 meters tall, but usually stays below 10 meters high. The trunk diameter can reach over 50 centimeters. It loses its leaves in the short dry season , just before new ones develop.
The stalked and alternate leaves are unpaired pinnate with up to 27 almost sessile to short stalked, almost bare leaflets . The entire to serrated, obovate, elliptical and rounded to pointed and papery leaflets are up to 4–7 centimeters long.
Spondias purpurea is dioecious dioecious . The male or female, five-fold and short-stalked flowers are small, reddish-purple to sometimes yellow-whitish and arise in slightly hairy, axillary or knotty, ramiflorous panicles (botryoid), the female ones are somewhat shorter. There are small supporting and pre- leaves. The small cup is often reddish. There are 8–10 stamens . The ovary is on top, with several conical, short and free styluses . There is a reddish to yellow discus . The male flowers have a pistillode and the female have staminodes.
The egg-shaped to ellipsoidal or pear-shaped, smooth stone fruit , the flesh of which is edible, is 3–5 cm long and 2–3.5 cm wide and contains a single large stone core. The ripe fruit appears red, occasionally yellow. The fibrous, bony stone core contains up to 5 seeds.
Occurrence
The red mombin plum is native to the tropical zone of America .
use
The cultivation of the tree is widespread in tropical regions around the world, mainly due to the edible pulp (which is also consumed immature with salt). The ripe fruit is rich in vitamin C. The tree is common in Central America , where the fruit is known for its laxative properties.
Individual evidence
literature
- John D. Mitchell, Douglas C. Daly: A revision of Spondias L. (Anacardiaceae) in the Neotropics. In: PhytoKeys. 55, 2015, 1-92, doi: 10.3897 / phytokeys.55.8489 .
- A. Miller, B. Schall: Domestication of a Mesoamerican cultivated fruit tree, Spondias purpurea. In: PNAS. 102: 2005, 12801-12806.
- Purple Mombin at Purdue (English).
Web links
- Spondias purpurea at Useful Tropical Plants.