Mimusops coriacea

(A. de Candolle) Miquel

Mascarene mimusops

SapotaceaeFruit

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What to Eat

Edible parts: Fruit

The large yellow fruit is eaten fresh.

Where to Find It

A tropical plant. It can tolerate salty soils.

Africa, Brazil, British Indian Ocean Terr., BIOT, East Africa, Hawaii, Madagascar, Mascarenes*, North America, Pacific, South America, Tropical America, USA,

Countries: Antigua & Barbuda, Angola, Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Bahamas, Botswana, Belize, Canada, Congo (DRC), Central African Republic, Congo (Republic), Cote d'Ivoire, Chile, Cameroon, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Algeria, Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Micronesia, Gabon, Grenada, French Guiana, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Haiti, British Indian Ocean Territory, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Comoros, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, Liberia, Lesotho, Libya, Morocco, Madagascar, Marshall Islands, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Malawi, Mexico, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Nauru, New Zealand, Panama, Peru, Papua New Guinea, Puerto Rico, Palau, Paraguay, Rwanda, Solomon Islands, Seychelles, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Somalia, Suriname, South Sudan, Sao Tome & Principe, El Salvador, Eswatini, Chad, Togo, Tunisia, Tonga, Trinidad & Tobago, Tuvalu, Tanzania, Uganda, United States, Uruguay, St Vincent, Venezuela, Vanuatu, Samoa, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe

How to Identify

An evergreen tree. It grows 7-10 m tall. The leaves are leathery. They are lighter green underneath. They are 5-15 cm long. The leaf stalk is 3 cm long. The flowers occur singly or in groups of 2-4 in the axils of leaves. The fruit is large and yellow. It is 6-7 cm across. They contain 1-2 seeds. It is edible.

How to Grow

Plants are grown by seed.

Wikipedia

Source ↗

Mimusops coriacea is a plant species in the family Sapotaceae. They are native to Madagascar, common names including monkey's apple or Madagascar apple.

Notes

There are 55 Mimusops species. It can be invasive.

Names & Synonyms

Imbricaria coriacea A de. CandolleMimusops commersonii auct. non (G.Don) Engler

References (7)

Kermath, B. M., et al, 2014, Food Plants in the Americas: A survey of the domesticated, cultivated and wild plants used for Human food in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. On line draft. p 540
Lorenzi, H., Bacher, L., Lacerda, M. & Sartori, S., 2006, Brazilian Fruits & Cultivated Exotics. Sao Paulo, Instituto Plantarum de Estuados da Flora Ltda. p 619 (As Mimusops commersonii)
C. F. P. Martius, Fl. bras. 7:44. 1863
Pennington, T.D., 1990, Sapotaceae in Flora Neotropica Monograph 52. New York Botanical Gardens. p 42
Staples, G.W. and Herbst, D.R., 2005, A tropical Garden Flora. Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu, Hawaii. p 520
Topp, J. M. W., 1988, An Annotated Check List of the Flora of Diego Garcia, British Ocean Territory. Atoll Research Bulletin No. 313
World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew