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.
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