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(Last Modified On 4/2/2013)
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(Last Modified On 4/2/2013)
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Species
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Pouteria sapota (Jacquin) Moore & Stearn
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PlaceOfPublication
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Taxon 16: 383, 19677.
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Synonym
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Calocarpum mammosum (L.) Pierre in Urban, Symb. Antill. 5: 97, 1904, auct. quoad descript.
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Description
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Tree to 30 m. Leaves clustered toward the branch ends, the branch ends often fulvous-tomentose; petioles 1-4.5 cm long; blades oblanceolate or obovate, often acuminate, 10-40 cm long, 4-14 cm broad, glabrate or tawny-sericeous below along the midvein and primary laterals, the primary laterals 20-50 pair, the secondary laterals essentially perpendicular to and connecting the primary laterals, more prominent than the close reticulum. Flowers subsessile (pedicels to 2 mm long), clustered at defoliated nodes, each cluster often borne on a small woody cushion; sepals 8-12, spirally imbricate, + orbicular, densely appressed-sericeous externally except at the margins (there entirely glabrous), often emarginate or more deeply bilobed at the apex, 2-6 mm long, the innermost the longest; corolla ? cylindric, 6-10 mm long, the tube comprising 2/5-1/2 of the length, the lobes 4-5, oblong- obovate, appressed-sericeous except at the margins; staminodes linear-lanceolate, 2-3 mm long; staminal filaments attached at the top of the tube, 2-3.5 mm long, the anthers ca 2 mm long; ovary densely ascending-sericeous, 5-locular, the style 3.5-7 mm long, often pubescent on the basal 1/3-1/2, the stigma 5-lobed. Fruit fleshy, ellipsoid or ovoid or subglobose, mealy-roughened, 8-20 cm long, brown, the pulp yellow to red or pink, often milky; seed 1, ellipsoid, not compressed, often 5-6 cm long, lustrous brown, the elliptic or obovate scar extending the entire length, ca 2-2.5 cm broad.
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Habit
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Tree
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Distribution
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Southern Mexico to northern South America and the West Indies; widely cultivated; original natural range uncertain.
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Specimen
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CANAL ZONE: 1/2-1 mi below Chilibre, Seibert 1517 (MO, US); Balboa, Standley 26080 (US). CHIRIQUI: banks of Rio Tabasara, on hwy, Woodson et al. 441 (MO). COCLE: vic of Old, Pittier 5089 (US). HERRERA: rd betw Las Minas & Pese, Duke 12307 (MO). PANAMA: Laguna de Portala, nr Chepo, Pittier 4628 (US); Taboga I, Standley 27916 (US). SAN BLAS: Ailigandi, Dwyer 6849 (MO); mainland opposite Ailigandi, from mouth of Ailigandi River to 2.5 mi inland, Lewis et al. 163 (MO). PROVINCE UNKNOWN: S. 10C., Duchassaing s.n. (F-fragment).
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Note
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Pouteria sapota, like several other members of the Sapotaceae valued for their edible fruits or other uses, has numerous common names, the most frequent prob- ably being "sapote." The fruit is a favorite among natives throughout tropical America and is eaten raw or used to make sherbets, preserves and beverages.
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