UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
H BULLETIN No. 542 
Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 
jfc&'^SL WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 
Washington, D. C. PROFESSIONAL PAPER August 11, 1917 
THE POLLINATION OF THE MANGO. 
By Wilson Popenoe, 
Agricultural Explorer, Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Introduction 1 
The mango flower and its pollination 2 
The pollen 9 
The production of fruit 13 
Flowering habits of the mango 16 
Summary 20 
INTRODUCTION. 
In attempting to establish mango culture upon a commercial basis 
in southern Florida, the Department of Agriculture has introduced 
during the last 25 years a large number of varieties from India and 
other important mango-growing regions. In fact, the Tropics have 
been searched for the best mangos which they produce, and it is 
probable that the collection now growing in Florida embraces many 
of the best varieties in cultivation. 
The fruiting habits of some of these varieties, however, have not 
been satisfactory. Several of them fruit very sparsely except in 
occasional seasons. The Mulgoba, the best variety of all from the 
standpoint of quality of fruit, has yielded a good crop on an average 
once hi four years. Even at best, some of the varieties seem in- 
capable of producing heavy crops of fruit. 
Contrasted with these conditions, most of the common seedling 
mangos of southern Florida and tropical America are enormously 
productive and rarely fail to produce a crop. 
Numerous explanations have been offered to account for this 
defect of the choice introduced varieties, but so far as known no 
investigations have been made with the definite object of determining 
the precise cause or causes of unfruitfulness and of finding some 
remedy. A few years ago the trouble was attributed to anthracnose 
84444°— Bull. 542—17 1 
