Spondias purpurea
| Jocote | |
|---|---|
| File:Jocote.jpg | |
Scientific classification  |
|
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Sapindales |
| Family: | Anacardiaceae |
| Subfamily: | Spondiadoideae |
| Genus: | Spondias |
| Species: |
S. purpurea
|
| Binomial name | |
| Spondias purpurea |
|
Spondias purpurea is a species in flowering plant in the cashew family, Anacardiaceae, that is native to tropical regions of the Americas. It is most commonly known as jocote, which derives from the Nahuatl word xocotl, meaning any kind of sour or acidic fruit.[1] Other common names include red mombin, purple mombin,[2] hog plum, ciruela huesito (Venezuela), sineguela, and siriguela.
Description
It is a small to medium-sized tree up to 25 feet tall[citation needed]. The leaves are deciduous in the short dry season, but only fall shortly before the new leaves develop; they are pinnate, with 7-23 leaflets, each leaflet 3–5 cm long and 1.5–2 cm broad[citation needed]. The flowers are small, reddish-purple, produced in large panicles[citation needed]. The fruit is an edible oval drupe, 3–5 cm long and 2-3.5 cm broad, ripening red (occasionally yellow) and containing a single large seed[citation needed].
It is now widely cultivated in tropical regions throughout the world for its edible fruit, and is also naturalised in some areas, including the Philippines and Nigeria[citation needed]. Numerous cultivars have been selected for fruit quality[citation needed]. It is also abundant in Jamaica and Central America[citation needed]. In Florida growth is relegated to near-tropical areas of the state, and the tree is killed or greatly harmed by cold winter temperatures from Palm Beach County northward.[3]
Uses
The fruits are often eaten ripe, with or without the skin[citation needed]. It is sometimes eaten unripe with salt and vinegar or lime juice, commonly sold in the streets in most Central American countries in plastics bags; also available are red hot pepper sauce and "alhuaishte" (very fine ground toasted pumpkin seeds).
In Haiti, it is known under the name of 'siwèl' and spread throughout the mountainous areas of the country, mostly in the northern and southern mountain ranges[citation needed].
One typical dish in Salvadoran cuisine consists of a syrup made of [[panela] (is a molasses made from artisan sugar blocks made by boiling cane juice from a molienda [cane crushing station traditionally ran by oxen or currently with portable gas engines], to evaporate water until it achieves thick molasses consistency. Then poured into wood molds and let it cool down. Once solidified later are wrapped in dry corn husk leaves called "tuzas" and sold in the markets], jocote and mango. This can be found only during the harvest season for these fruits starting around Semana Santa (Easter) to end of August.
The single large seed, which takes up most of the fruit, is not eaten[citation needed].
In Panamá, the tree is used throughout the countryside as a living fence.
Cultural significance
The "Pacto del Jocote", peace treaty was signed in Costa Rica on April 11, 1842 under a jocote tree in Alajuela between Francisco Morazán and Vicente Villaseñor overturning the government of Braulio Carrillo[citation needed].
References
- ↑ Spanish Royal Academy Dictionary
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External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).]]. |
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Wikispecies has information related to: Spondias purpurea |
- Miller, A and Schall, B. 2005. Domestication of a Mesoamerican cultivated fruit tree, Spondias purpurea. PNAS 102:12801–12806
- Purple mombin
- Pages with broken file links
- Taxoboxes with no color
- Articles with unsourced statements from May 2015
- Commons category link from Wikidata
- Spondias
- Trees of Mexico
- Trees of Brazil
- Trees of Central America
- Crops originating from Mexico
- Tropical fruit
- Natural history of Mesoamerica
- Trees of Venezuela
- Trees of Guatemala
- Trees of the Philippines
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