THE SAPOTACEOUS FRUITS 335 



The wood is hard and durable; in fact, lintels believed to be 

 made from it are found in the ruins of Tikal (Central America), 

 dated 9. 15. 10.0.0 (Maya chronology) or470A.D. The branches 

 often extend from the trunk horizontally. They are tough and 

 pliable, which makes the sapodilla more resistant to cyclones 

 and hurricanes than many other tropical fruit-trees. The bark 

 contains a milky latex known commercially as chicle. This 

 product is secured by tapping the trunk, and is exported in 

 large quantities from southern Mexico and Central America 

 to the United States, where it is used as the basis of chewing- 

 gum. The leaves are entire or emarginate, ovate-elliptic to 

 elliptic-lanceolate in outline, thick, stiff, shining, and 2 to 5 

 inches long. The small flowers are produced in the leaf-axils 

 toward the ends of the branchlets; the calyx is composed of 

 six small, ovate sepals, and the corolla is white, tubular, lobu- 

 late, with six stamens opposite the lobules. The ovary is 

 ten- to twelve-celled, each cell containing one ovule. The 

 fruit is variable in form, but commonly is round, oval, or conical, 

 and 2 to 3 inches in diameter. The thin skin is rusty brown 

 and somewhat scurfy, giving the fruit a striking resemblance to 

 an Irish potato. The flesh in the ripe fruit is yellow-brown, 

 translucent, soft, sweet, and delicious, but when immature 

 it contains tannin and a milky latex, so that it must not be 

 eaten until fully ripe. The flavor has been likened to that of 

 pears and brown sugar together ; it is rich, slightly fragrant, 

 and very pleasing to those who like sweet fruits. The seeds 

 vary from none to ten or twelve and are hard, black, shining, 

 obovate, flattened, and about inch long. They are easily 

 separated from the flesh and give little trouble in eating the 

 fruit. 



The sapodilla is native to tropical America. Henry Pittier 

 considers it indigenous in Mexico south of the Isthmus of 

 Tehuantepec, in Guatemala, and possibly in Salvador and 

 northern Honduras. It is particularly abundant in the low- 



