Emerging leaves on new flushes may appear wilted, flaccid and pendulous. Each flush of growth will harden off to a rich green color before the next flush of growth begins. These naked stems mark successive flushes of growth. The length and breadth of full-grown leaves varies from 12 to 45 cm and 2 to 12 cm, respectively, depending on variety and growth, and are generally borne in clusters separated by a length of naked stem bearing no buds. The midrib is pale and conspicuous with many prominent light colored horizontal veins distinct. The upper surface is shining and dark green while the lower is glabrous light green. Leaves are variable in shapes like oval-lanceolate, lanceolate, oblong, linear-oblong, ovate, obovate-lanceolate or roundish-oblong depending on variety. The leaves are alternate, with no stipules, simple, leathery, oblong-lanceolate to linear. It is therefore ironic that two of the most delectable nuts and one of the world’s major fruit crops come from this family.įoliage: Mango leaves in general are dark green above and pale below. It is also a family well known for the dermal irritation produced by some of its members, including some Mangifera species, can cause some form of dermatitis in humans. Apart from edible fruit Anacardiaceous species also yield other valuable products like wood, gums and resins, wax and varnishes and tanning materials. Malesia has been considered as the phytogeographic region extending from the Malay Peninsular south of the Kangar-Pattani line to the Bismarck archipelago east ofNew Guinea (Whitmore, 1975). The other distant relatives of Mangifera are cashew ( Anacardium occidentale), gandaria ( Bouea gandaria), pistachio ( Pistacia vera), marula (Sclerocarya birrea), ambarella ( Spondias cytherea), yellow mombin ( Spondias mombin), red mombin ( Spondias purpurea), imbu ( Spondias tuberosa), dragon plums ( Dracontomelum spp.) kaffir plum ( Harpepbyllum caffrum), etc. The family contains 73 genera and about 600-850 species, with a few representatives in temperate regions, distinguished by their resinous bark and caustic oils in leaves, bark, and fruits. Other important members of this family include cashew, pistachio, and the mombins ( Spondias spp.). The Mango ( Mangifera indica L.), is the most economically important fruit crop in the Anacardiaceae (Cashew or poison ivy family).
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