SAPODILLA FAMILY (SAPOTACEAE) 



206. Caimito, star-apple 



A handsome tree with milky sap, cultivated for 

 its very sweet, edible, round fruits 2-3 inches in 

 diameter, oreenish or purplish, and for shade. It 

 is further identified by : ( 1 ) its spreading to droop- 

 ing crown; and (2) pretty, reddish-brown or gold- 

 en (copper-colored) silky hairy lower surfaces of 

 the elliptic or oblong leaves. The snudl purplish- 

 white or greenish flowers 14 ii^ch long are clustered 

 at bases of leaves. 



Small to medium-sized evergreen tree 20-40 feet 

 high and 2 feet in trunk duimeter, with dense 

 crown. The bark is rough, much fissured, and 

 brown. Young twigs, as well as the petioles, which 

 are V2-% inch long, and the flower stalks, are red- 

 dish-brown hairy. 



The alternate leaves have blades 3-5 inches long 

 and II/2-214 inches broad, mostly abruptly short- 

 pointed at apex, short -pointed at base, with edges 

 not toothed, and slightly thickened. The upper 

 surface is dark green, slightly shiny, and hairless. 



Flower clusters have numerous small flowers on 

 slender hairy stalks I/4— '''s inch long. Calyx is com- 

 posed of usually 6 rounded sepals Yiq inch ■long, 

 reddish-brown hairy: the purplish-white corolla, 

 also hairy, is nearly 14 inch long, tubular and 5-7- 

 lobed: stamens on the corolla tube opposite the 

 lobes; and pistil consisting of hairy 6-11-celled 

 ovary with short style and as many small stigma 

 lobes as cells. 



Chrysophyllum cainito L. 



The edible berry has a thick, glossy, leathery 

 rind with gummy latex, white jellylike flesh, and 

 several flattened brown seeds. The arrangement 

 of cells and seeds like a star in the cut half fruit 

 is the source of the English name star-apple. 

 Flowering in summer and fall, the fruit matur- 

 ing from late fall to summer. Said not to fruit 

 in the Virgin Islands. 



The wood is reddish brown, hard, heavy (spe- 

 cific gravity 0.7), strong, and durable. It is suit- 

 able for construction. 



The principal value of this tree in Puerto Rico 

 is its fruit and its attractive appearance as an 

 ornamental and shade tree. 



Planted and escaping from cultivation in Puerto 

 Rico and possibly native. Also grown in St. 

 Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John. 



Range. — Native in Greater Antilles, the range 

 spread by cultivation through tropical America. 

 Now widely planted in southei-n Florida, through 

 West Indies from Cuba to Trinidad and Tobago 

 and from southern Mexico to Brazil. 



Other coiiMox names. — cainit (Virgin Is- 

 lands): caimito (Spanish); maduraverde, caimo, 

 caimo morado (Colombia) ; star-apple, goldenleaf 

 (English) : kaimit, caimite (Trinidad and Toba- 

 go) ; caimite, caimitier (French) ; sterappel (Cu- 

 rasao) ; sterappel, apra (Surinam) ; cainito 

 (Brazil). 



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