The Mamoncillo Melicoccus bijugatus, also known as the Quenepa, Chenet, Genip, Spanish Lime, or Kinnip, is a fruit-bearing tree in the soapberry family Sapindaceae, native to a wide area of the American tropics including Central America, Colombia and the Caribbean. It is a large tree growing up to 30 m high. The leaves are alternate, 8-15 cm long, pinnate with 4 or 6 opposite leaflets (no terminal leaflet), each leaflet 5-10 cm long. Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Divisions Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Hepatophyta - liverworts Anthocerophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering plants Adiantum pedatum (a fern... Classes Magnoliopsida - Dicots Liliopsida - Monocots The flowering plants (also angiosperms or Magnoliophyta) are one of the major groups of modern plants, comprising those that produce seeds in specialized reproductive organs called flowers, where the ovulary or carpel is enclosed. ... Orders see text Dicotyledons or dicots are flowering plants whose seed contains two embryonic leaves or cotyledons. ... Families See text The Sapindales is an order of flowering plants included among the rosid subgroup of dicotyledons. ... genera See text Sapindaceae, also known as the Soapberry family, is a family of plants in the order Sapindales. ... In biology, binomial nomenclature is a standard convention used for naming species. ... Fruit stall in Barcelona, Spain. ... The coniferous Coast Redwood, the tallest tree species on earth A tree can be defined as a large, perennial, woody plant. ... genera See text Sapindaceae, also known as the Soapberry family, is a family of plants in the order Sapindales. ... Central America is the region of North America located between the southern border of Mexico and the northwest border of Colombia, in South America. ... ... In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. ...

It is grown and cultivated for its ovoid, green fruit, which grow in bunches. The fruit ripen during the summer. The fruit, similar to that of the related Lychee, is classified as a drupe. A mamoncillo fruit has a tight and thin but rigid layer of skin, traditionally cracked by the teeth. Inside the skin is the tart, tangy yellow pulp of the fruit. Each mamoncillo fruit has a large seed inside, the same ovoid shape as the fruit itself. Mamoncillo seeds can be roasted and eaten just like sunflower seeds or chestnuts. Binomial name Litchi chinensis Sonn. ... The peach is a typical drupe (stone fruit) In botany, a drupe is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp or skin and mesocarp or flesh) surrounds a shell (the pit or stone) of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. ... A seed is the ripened ovule of gymnosperm or angiosperm plants. ... Binomial name Helianthus annuus L. The sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is an annual plant in the Family Asteraceae with a large flower head (inflorescence). ... Species - Bush Chinkapin* - Japanese Chestnut - American Chestnut - Henrys Chestnut - Chinese Chestnut - Ozark Chinkapin - Alleghany Chinkapin - Sweet Chestnut - Seguins Chestnut * treated as a synonym of by many authors Chestnuts (Castanea), including the chinkapins, are a genus of eight or nine species of trees and shrubs in the beech family...

The mamoncillo has small, greenish-white, fragrant flowers in panicles. They begin to blossom from the branch tips when the rainy season begins. The mamoncillo is an example of a polygamous plant, producing bisexual flowers as well as flowers that are exclusively male or exclusively female. Occasionally, a bisexual flower will have a "dud" (sterile) anther, which limits the number of fruits produced from self-pollination when cross-pollination is possible. Wildflowers A flower is the reproductive organ of those plants classified as angiosperms (flowering plants; Division Magnoliophyta). ... White-fruited Rowan (Sorbus glabrescens) corymb; note the branched structures holding the fruits. ...

Being tropical, the mamoncillo prefers warmer temperatures. Its leaves can be damaged if the temperature hits freezing point, with serious damage occurring below -4°C. Gardeners of mamoncillos should occasionally give their plants heavy watering during the summer and propagate via seeds; grafting is also used to propagate cultivars. This Osteospermum Pink Whirls is a successful cultivar. ...

The Mamoncillo is also commonly planted along roadsides as an ornamental tree.

There are 10 species in this genus, some of which also have edible fruits such as Melicoccus lepidopetala, native to Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina, and Melicoccus oliviformis native to northern South America and Central America.

See also

• Akee
• Longan
• Lychee
• Rambutan

Binomial name Blighia sapida Koenig The Akee (Blighia sapida) is a member of the Sapindaceae (soapberry family), native to tropical west Africa. ... Longans (龍眼, in Pinyin lóngyǎn, in Cantonese long-ngan, meaning dragon eyes) (Nephelium longanum Cambess) are fruits often used in East Asian soups, snacks, desserts, and sweet-and-sour foods. ... Binomial name Litchi chinensis Sonn. ... Binomial name Nephelium lappaceum L. Rambutan cut open. ...

External link

• Fruits of Warm Climates: Mamoncillo
• Melicoccus bijugatus (Sapindaceae)
• Image of fruit