MANGOSTEEN FAMILY (GUTTIFERAE) 



164. Mamey, mammee-apple 



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) op- 

 posite elliptic leaves 4-61/2 inches long and 2Vi- 

 334 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 11/4-2 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 y^-% 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"% inch long, male and female and bi- 

 sexual (polygamous). The flower bud is whitish 

 green, turning brown, round to elliptic, 14-% long, 

 splitting into 2 sepals about % inch long. There 

 are 4-6, usually 6, obovate spreading white petals 

 %-l inch long. Male flowers have in the center 

 numerous small crowded yellow stamens 1/4 inch 

 high and % "ich 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 finn 

 bright yellow or reddish flesh with white sap. 

 There are 2-4 very large oblong reddish-brown 

 stones or seeds with rough fibrous surface. Ob- 

 served 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 exuda- 

 tions. It is hard, heavy (specific gravity 0.62), 

 strong, medium-textured, and frequently has ir- 

 regular and interlocked gi-ain. Air-seasoning is 

 moderate in rate but very difficult, and the amount 

 of degrade is considerable. Machining character- 

 istics are as follows : planing, turning, boring, and 

 mortising are good; shaping and resistance to 

 screw sjjlitting are excellent ; and sanding is poor. 

 The wood is very susceptible to attack by dry- 



Mammea americana L. 



wood tennites 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 carpenti-y 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 seed- 

 lings 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 Eico and Virgin Islands (St. 

 Croix, St. Thomas, St. John, and Tortola) for the 

 edible fruits and for shade and ornament. A com- 

 mon tree along roadsides and fence rows. Appar- 

 ently native to the moist coastal forest of Puerto 

 Rico. 



MUNICIP.ALITIES WHERE ESPECI.ALLT COMMON. — 



31, 47. 



Range. — Native of West Indies. Spread by cul- 

 tivation over tropical America in southern Flor- 

 ida, 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 Is- 

 lands) ; mamey (Spanish) ; mamey de Santo Do- 

 mingo, mamey amarillo (Cuba) ; zapote mamey, 

 zapote de niho, zapote de Santo Domingo (Mex- 

 ico) ; 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 (Gua- 

 deloupe, Martinique) ; mamie, abricotier, abri- 

 cotier d'Amerique (French Guiana) ; mami, 

 mamaya (Dutch West Indies) ; mammi, mamie- 

 boom, mamaja (Surinam) ; abrico do Para, abri- 

 coteiro (Brazil). 



The generic name is derived from the native 

 West Indian name. 



354 



