THE MANGO 121 



covering itself with flowers; again, one side of the tree may 

 flower, while the other shows no buds; or the flowering may 

 be confined to a small section of the tree, probably the branch- 

 lets arising from one large limb. This behavior of the mango 

 corresponds to the growth habit of the tree which is mentioned 

 but not explained by A. F. W. Schimper. 1 When one side of 

 the tree flowers independently, it might be expected that the 

 remainder would flower at another time, but this is not always 

 the case. 



Some varieties develop all their flowers within ten days after 

 the first buds open ; others, such as Sandersha and Julie, push 

 out flower-panicles during a period of several weeks, or even 

 months ; thus, in 1915 there was not a single day between the 

 middle of January and the latter part of May on which flowers 

 could not be found on the old Sandersha tree in the Plant 

 Introduction Garden at Miami, Florida. This feature is of 

 importance in that it gives the tree a greater opportunity to 

 set fruit. Often the attacks of the anthracnose fungus are 

 severe when the tree is in bloom, and the entire crop of flowers 

 is destroyed. In some varieties this means a crop failure, since 

 the tree will not produce any more flowers that season ; but 

 in the Sandersha (if early in the season) it need mean only the 

 loss of the flowers which were present at that particular time. 

 Those developed later might enjoy more favorable weather, 

 with consequent freedom from the anthracnose peril, and a 

 crop of fruit would result. Anthracnose, one of the greatest 

 enemies of the mango, is discussed under the heading pests 

 and diseases. 



Some varieties which fruit heavily are characterized by a 

 high percentage of perfect flowers. Others which are known to 

 be unusually regular in fruiting, although they may not produce 

 such heavy crops, have relatively few perfect flowers. The 

 Philippine race of seedlings, which sometimes bears heavily, 

 1 Plant Geography. 



