along roads, and in waste jxronnds. 



Limited to the moist coastal region of Puerto 

 Rico, chiefly on the white sands between Bayamon 

 and Aguadilla. Also in Culebra, Vieques, St. 

 Croix, St. Thomas, St. John, Tortola, and Virgin 

 Gorda. 



R.\NGE. — Tliroughout West Indies, except Ba- 

 hamas, from Cuba to Trinidad and Dutcji AVest 

 Indies. Also from southern Mexico to Peru and 

 Brazil, the range extended through cultivation 

 and naturalization. Planted also in southern 

 Florida. Cultivated and naturalized in Africa, 

 India, and elsewhere in the Old World tropics. 



It has been suggested that Indians from South 



America may have brought this species to the West 

 Indies in pre-Columbian times. 



Other cojimon n.\mes. — c a j u i 1, maraiion 

 (Puerto Rico) ; maraiion (Spanish) ; cajuil (Do- 

 minican Republic) ; jocote maraiion (Guatemala, 

 Hondiiras, El Salvador) ; merey (Colombia, Ven- 

 ezuela) : caju, casu (Peru) ; cashew, cashew-nut, 

 casliew-apple (United States, English) ; acajou, 

 noix d'acajou, pomme d'acajou, pommier d'acajou 

 (French) ; pomme cajou (Guadeloupe) ; acajou a 

 pomme, noix d'acajou (French Guiana) ; cashu, 

 palu di cashu]>ete, kasjoe, cashew, cherry (Dutch 

 West Indies) ; kasjoe, boschkasjoe, mereke, orvi 

 (Surinam) ; caju, cajueiro (Brazil). 



CASHEW FAMILY (ANACARDIACEAE) 



131. Mango 



This popular introduced fruit and shade tree, 

 bearing one of the finest tropical fruits, hardly re- 

 quires description. It is characterized by: (1) a 

 very dense round crown and stout trunk; (2) 

 large, leathery, dark green, lance-shaped or nar- 

 rowly oblong leaves long-pointed at both ends or 

 short-pointed at base, drooping in conspicuous 

 red-brown clusters when fii-st ]iroduced; (3) nu- 

 merous small yellow-green to pink S-parted flow- 

 ers about 1/4 inch across in large showy terminal 

 clusters; and (4) the familiar large, elliptic, yel- 

 low fruits with edible flesh and a large seed in a 

 mass of fibers. 



A medium-sized to large evergreen tree attain- 

 ing 20-05 feet in height witli trunk to 3 feet in 

 diameter. The brown bark is smoothish, with 

 many thin fissures, and thick, becoming darker, 

 rough, and scaly or furrowed. Inner bark is light 

 brown and bitter. A wliitish latex exudes from cut 

 twigs, and a resin from cuts in the trunk. The 

 stout twigs are pale green and hairless. 



The alternate leaves have petioles V^-'^Vi inches 

 long and swollen at base. Leaf blades are 6-12 

 inches long and 114-3 inches broad, curved up- 

 ward from midrib and sometimes with edges a 

 little wavy. 



Large branched flower clusters (panicles) are 

 6-8 inches or more in length, with reddish hairy 

 branches. The short-stalked finely haiiy fragrant 

 flowers are partly male and partly bisexual (po- 

 lygamous). The yellow-green calyx i/m inch long 

 is deeply .5-lobed; there are 5 spreading petals 

 more than i/s inch long, pink l)ut turning reddish ; 

 5 stamens, 1 fertile and 4 shorter and sterile, borne 

 on a disk; and some flowers have a pistil with 

 1-celled ovarj' and slender lateral style. 



The large aromatic fruits (drupes) on hanging 

 stalks are mostly 3^1/^ inches long, slightly nar- 

 rowed toward apex and a little flattened, soft at 

 maturity. The yellow flesh is thick and juicy, the 

 seed 21/2-31/4 inches long, flattened, and weighing 

 about an ounce. Flowering mainly in winter and 



Mangifera indica L.* 



spring (recorded from November to July) and 

 maturing fruits mostly from May to September. 



The sapwood is cream colored or light brown, 

 and tile heartwood pale yellow or brown and often 

 with darker s])ots and irregidar lines. The wood 

 is hai-d, moderately heavy (specific gravity 0.62), 

 tougli, strong, and medium-textured and has 

 straight to wavy grain, many large pores, and 

 growth rings. Rate of air-seasoning is moderate, 

 and amount of degrade minor. Machining char- 

 acteristics are as follows: planing, shaping, and 

 turning are fair; boring, mortising, and resistance 

 to screw sjilitting are good; and sanding is poor. 

 The wood works easily but with only fair results. 

 It is susceptible to attack by di-y-wood termites. 



In Puerto Rico the wood has been used occasion- 

 ally for meat chopping-blocks as well as for fuel. 

 Elsewhere it has been employed for furniture, car- 

 pentry, flooring, construction, boxes and crates, 

 carts, plywood, and dry cooperage. Beautiful fur- 

 niture has been made from a variety with streaked 

 wood. 



Tliis is perliaps the most popular fruit through 

 tropical America. Though usually eaten raw, 

 mangos are also cooked or made into preserves or 

 juice. Numerous improved varieties with larger 

 and less fibrous fruits have been developed. These 

 superior varieties, propagated vegetatively by 

 budding or grafting, should replace the common 

 unimproved fibrous mangos which are grown from 

 seeds. 



Mango is an excellent hardy shade tree. It is 

 also among the important honey plants, secreting 

 quantities of ne-ctar, and the flowers reportedly 

 are edible. Livestock eat the fruits. The seeds, 

 flowers, bark, leaves, and resin have been em- 

 ployed medicinally, and the bark and leaves yield 

 a yellow dye. A few persons have skin sensitive 

 to the sap, which produces a rash around the 

 mouth and on the face. 



Widely planted as a fruit tree and shade tree 

 around houses and along highways and commonly 



288 



