Manilkara chicle (Pittier) Gilly

Species

Angiosperms > Ericales > Sapotaceae > Manilkara

Characteristics

Tree to 40 m. Leaves with petioles 1-3.5 cm long; blades 8-24(-29) cm long, 3-7(-10) cm broad, oblanceolate or narrowly obovate to elliptic or elliptic-oblong, obtuse or rounded to acute or acuminate, paler and more yellowish beneath, ap-pressed-sericeous-strigulose below when young but eventually glabrate. Flowers yel-lowish-or grenish-white, 2-5 per fascicle; pedicels strigulose, 0.5-3 cm long; sepals 5-9 mm long, ovate to ovate-lanceolate or ovate-oblong, the inner and outer sericous-tomentulose; corolla 5.5-9 mm long, the tube I/4-1/2 the total length, the lobes ovate, often erose or erose-dentate at the apex, lacking dorsal appendages; sta- minodes 2.5-4.5 mm long, distally erose-laciniate, often shallowly bifid; stamens equalling the staminodes; ovary minutely sericeous on top, glabrous elsewhere, the style 6-9 mm long, glabrous except at the base. Fruit mealy-roughened, 2-4 cm in diam, subglobose or obovoid, several-seeded; seeds 14-19 mm long, flattened, the basilateral scar barely reaching the middle.
More
A tree. It grows 25-35 m high. It can have short buttresses 0.5 m high. The bark is dark grey and almost black. It is deeply cracked. The young shoots are slightly rough. The leaves are 6-20 cm long by 2-7.3 cm wide. They are usually rounded and sword shaped. There are 15-25 pairs of secondary veins. The leaf stalk is 1-2.5 cm long. Trees shed their leaves for a short period of time where there are seasonal climates. The flowers occur as 2-5 together on branches from the same point. They are rough skinned and pale brown. The flower stalks are 0.6-1.7 cm long. The fruit are 2.5-3.5 cm long by 2.5-4.8 wide. They are rounded and flattened. There are 2-5 seeds. They are 1.5-2.5 cm long. They are flattened.
Life form perennial
Growth form tree
Growth support -
Foliage retention
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 25.0 - 35.0
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

A tropical plant. It grows in places with a seasonally dry climate. In Central America it grows from sea level to 900 m altitude.
More
Mixed forests, at elevations up to 1,100 metres.
Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-12

Usage

The fruit are eaten. The latex is collected by cutting a slit in the bark at an angle then collecting the sap that is used as chewing gum. The sap is boiled down into blocks.
Uses food gum material medicinal wood
Edible fruits
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Can be grown by seedlings.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Leaf

Manilkara chicle leaf picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)
Manilkara chicle leaf picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)

Fruit

Manilkara chicle fruit picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)
Manilkara chicle fruit picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)
Manilkara chicle fruit picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)

Distribution

Manilkara chicle world distribution map, present in Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama

Conservation status

Manilkara chicle threat status: Least Concern

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:152591-2
WFO ID wfo-0000235843
COL ID 3XVB9
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Manilkara calcicola Manilkara chicle Achras chicle Mopania calcicola Mopania chicle Achras calcicola Manilkara calcicola var. colombiana