| Spondias | |
|---|---|
| Fruiting Spondias mombin | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Sapindales |
| Family: | Anacardiaceae |
| Subfamily: | Spondioideae |
| Tribe: | Spondiadeae |
| Genus: | Spondias L. |
| Type species | |
| Spondias mombin L. |
|
| Species | |
|
17, see text |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Allospondias (Pierre) Stapf |
|
Spondias is a genus of flowering plants in the cashew family, Anacardiaceae. The genus consists of 17 described species, 7 of which are native to the Neotropics and about 10 are native to tropical Asia. They are commonly named hog plums, Spanish plums and in some cases golden apples for their brightly-colored fruit which resemble an apple or large plum at a casual glance. They are only distantly related to apple and plum trees, however. A more unequivocal common name is mombins.
They are deciduous or semi-evergreen trees growing to 25 m tall. The leaves are spirally arranged, pinnate, rarely bipinnate or simple. The fruit is a drupe similar to a small mango (in the related genus Mangifera), 4-10 cm long, ripening yellow or orange. It has a single seed.
About 10 species of Spondias bear edible fruits and have been domesticated for fruit production. These fruits are also consumed by herbivorous mammals such as deer.
A theory regarding the name of the city of Bangkok, Thailand is that the name is derived from makok (มะกอก), the Thai name for the fruit of Spondias dulcis[2]. Spondias pinnata is called Pulicha kaai in the Tamil language, which means "sour fruit." It is also called as Ambade in Tulu.
The Malesian species of Spondias were revised by Ding Hou in 1978. [3] The most recently recognized species, Spondias testudinis, was described in 1998. [4]
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Spondias Spondias] at Wikimedia Commons Data related to Spondias at Wikispecies
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