Mangifera indica    

Mangifera indica L.

Family : Anacardiaceae

Common Name : മാവ് (Mal)

: आम (Hin)

: Mango(Eng)

IUCN Status : Data Deficient (DD)

State Tree of Maharashtra. It is a matter of astonishment to many that the delicious mango, one of the most celebrated of Indian fruits, is a member of the family Anacardiaceae–notorious for embracing a number of highly poisonous plants. The mango tree is erect, 30 to 100 ft high, with a broad, rounded canopy which may, with age, attain 100 to 125 ft in width, or a more upright, oval, relatively slender crown. In deep soil, the taproot descends to a depth of 20 ft, the profuse, wide-spreading, feeder root system also sends down many anchor roots which penetrate for several feet. The tree is long-lived, some specimens being known to be 300 years old and still fruiting. Nearly evergreen, alternate leaves are borne mainly in rosettes at the tips of the branches and numerous twigs from which they droop like ribbons on slender petioles 1 to 4 in long. Hundreds and even as many as 3,000 to 4,000 small, yellowish or reddish flowers, 25% to 98% male, the rest hermaphroditic, are borne in profuse, showy, erect, pyramidal, branched clusters 2 1/2 to 15 1/2 in high. There is great variation in the form, size, color and quality of the fruits. They may be nearly round, oval, ovoid-oblong, or somewhat kidney-shaped, often with a break at the apex, and are usually more or less lop-sided.

Evergreen trees, to 30 m high, bark 2-2.5 cm, dark grey, rough with vertical fissures; exudation yellowish, gummy. Leaves simple, alternate, clustered at the tips of branchlets, 9.2-40 x 2.5-8 cm, elliptic, elliptic-lanceolate, linear-oblong, apex acuminate, acute or obtusely acute, base attenuate or acute, margin entire, glabrous, shiny, coriaceous; petiole 10-75 mm long, stout, glabrous, pulvinate; lateral nerves 14-28 pairs, pinnate, prominent; intercostae reticulate, prominent. Flowers polygamous, yellowish-green, in terminal panicles; pedicels jointed; bract deciduous. Calyx 4-5 partite, ovate, imbricate, hairy without, cauducous. Petals 4-5, oblong-obovate, subequal, nerves at base gland crested, free or adnate to the disc; disc fleshy, cupular, 4-5 lobed. Stamens 4-5, inserted inside or on the disc, fertile stamens 1 or 2; filaments free, glabrous; staminodes gland-tipped. Ovary sessile, superior, oblique, 1-celled, ovule pendulous; style lateral; stigma simple. Fruit a drupe, 5-15 cm long, oblong-reniform, yellowish-red, mesocarp fleshy, endocarp fibrous; seed subreniform.

Use: Several horticultural varieties are cultivated, the fruits vary in the shape, size, colour and taste. The fruits are good source of carbohydrates, minerals like Calcium, Potassium, Iron, and Vitamins. The ripe fruits are utilized for making juice, syrup, candy etc. The logs are used for making dug-out boats, building construction etc.

Distribution : Indo-Malesia

Flowering & Fruiting : January-May