Spondias is a genus of flowering plants in the cashew family, Anacardiaceae. The genus consists of 18 described species, eleven of which are native to the tropical Americas, six to Asia and one to Madagascar. They are commonly named hog plums, Spanish plums, Ciruelas in Cuba, libas in Bikol and in some cases golden apples for their brightly colored fruit which resemble an apple or small plum at a casual glance. They are only distantly related to apple and plum trees, however. A more unequivocal common name is mombins.
Description
Members of this genus are deciduous trees with resinous exudates which can cause contact dermatitis in humans. The leaves are imparipinnate (bipinnate in Spondias bipinnata), and are arranged alternately on the branches. Leaflets have an intramarginal vein, i.e. a vein running close and parallel to the leaf margin.
The inflorescences are produced at the ends of the branches or in the leaf axils, and take the form of a panicle or raceme. Most species are hermaphroditic (having flowers with male and female organs, i.e. bisexual flowers) or polygamodioecious (having a combination of bisexual flowers plus either male flowers or female flowers), while the species S. pupurea is dioecious (having male and female flowers on separate plants).
The fruit are fleshy drupes which may be globular, elliptic or oblong; yellow, orange, red, purple or green; with a hard endocarp surrounded by a fibrous layer.
Names
Spondias dulcis, fruit, section and seed
A theory regarding the name of the city of Bangkok, Thailand is that the name is derived from Thai: -มะกอกน้ำ; RTGS: makok nam 'water olive', the Thai name for the fruit of Spondias dulcis. In Cambodia, Spondias pinnata is called /pɷːn siː pʰlaɛ/ (ពោនស៊ីផ្លែ) or /məkaʔ prẹj/ (ម្កាក់ព្រៃ), and Spondias dulcis simply /məkaʔ/ (ម្កាក់). Spondias pinnata is called Pulicha kaai in the Tamil language, which means "sour...
