69 

 Collecting Chicle in the American Tropics 



(Part 2) 



John S. Karling 



Identification of Achras Species and Chicle Adulterants 



In spite of the economic importance of chicle and the sapodilla 

 tree, there is still some confusion and ignorance among contractors, 

 chicleros, and professional botanists about the sources of chicle and 

 the substitutes commonly used. A large number of species of differ- 

 ent families yield gum which is utilized to a limited extent in chew- 

 ing gum manufacture, but there is little doubt that the best and larg- 

 est supply of chicle comes from Achras zapota, although some tax- 

 onomists have denied this. This species as described by Plumier 

 (1703), Linnaeus (1753, 1762), Jacquin (1760, 1763), Brown 

 (1789), Pierre and Urban (1904), Coville (1905), Cook (1913), 

 Pittier (1914, 1919), Hummel (1925), and Standley (1925, 1932) 

 appears to be quite variable, and confusion as to the source of chicle 

 is to be expected, especially when the herbarium material has been 

 collected under different vernacular names from widely separated 

 localities. In 1888 Planchon listed three species of Achras as com- 

 mercially important, and recently (1919) Pittier added two addi- 

 tional latex-yielding species, A. chicle and A. calcic ola, which were 

 formerly included in A. zapota. Pierre and Urban (1904) described 

 four varieties of A. zapota on the basis of fruit and flower sizes and 

 shapes. Whether or not these latter are valid species is uncertain, 

 but it is not improbable that when the jungles of southern Mexico, 

 Central and South America have been thoroughly combed and the 

 forms carefully studied, additional species and varieties will be seg- 

 regated. 



In British Honduras the native chicleros, according to Hummel 

 (1925), recognize the following types of A. zapota: 



(1) "Female Sapodilla" — by far the best tree for producing 

 chicle. Large edible fruit of good quality. Leaves smaller and closer 

 together than those of any of the other kinds of sapodilla. However, 

 the leaves of saplings are often abnormally large and their size and 

 shape are, therefore, misleading. This tree is more numerous in the 

 north of the Colony than in the south ; the Sibun River may, roughly, 

 be taken as the dividing Hne between good and inferior chicle. 



