Eden

Penang Botanic Gardens Plant Collection

Pouteria campechiana (Kunth) Baehni (SAPOTACEAE)

Posted at — Nov 13, 2019
Eggfruit Tree, Canistel, Amarillo, Yellow Sapote

Description

Small-sized evergreen tree to 8 m tall, taller in favourable conditions, with spreading crown. Leaves 11.2-28 cm long, oblanceolate, lanceolate-oblong or obovate. Flowers solitary or in small clusters in leaf axils or at leafless nodes, cream-coloured. Fruits very variable in form and size, rounded with or without pointed apex or curve beak, oval to ovoid or spindle-shaped, 7.5-12.5 cm long, ripening lemon yellow.


Ecology

Tropical to subtropical habitats to 1,400 m altitude.

Distribution

Bahamas, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico.

Uses

Occasionally planted as a fruit tree in SE Asia. Fruit is edible but not highly regarded.