Sapotaceae Juss.
EOL Text
Trees and shrubs, with milky latex (sometimes produced rather reluctantly); branching pattern repeatedly subterminal. Indumentum of microscopic T-shaped, Y-shaped or medifixed hairs, often reddish-brown on young leaves and branchlets. Stipules present or 0. Leaves alternate, often clustered at ends of branches, simple, petiolate, entire. Flowers usually solitary or in fascicles, in leaf axils or on older wood, bisexual, rarely unisexual by reduction, actinomorphic. Calyx in 1 row, 5-merous or with 2 rows of 3 segments each (Manilkara) or 4 segments each (Mimusops, Vitellariopsis). Corolla gamopetalous; petals simple or with two appendages. Stamens inserted in the corolla tube. Ovary superior. Fruit a berry (in ours) with sticky, often edible, pulp. Seeds ± flattened-ellipsoid with shiny testa.
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) Stats
Specimen Records:1232
Specimens with Sequences:1479
Specimens with Barcodes:1143
Species:438
Species With Barcodes:425
Public Records:695
Public Species:303
Public BINs:0
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The Sapotaceae are a family of flowering plants belonging to order Ericales. The family includes about 800 species of evergreen trees and shrubs in around 65 genera (35-75, depending on generic definition). Their distribution is pantropical.
Many species produce edible fruits, and/or have other economic uses. Species noted for their edible fruits include Manilkara (Sapodilla, sapota), Chrysophyllum cainito (star-apple or golden leaf tree), Pouteria (abiu, canistel, lúcuma, Mamey sapote), Vitellaria paradoxa (shea) and Sideroxylon australe (Australian native plum). Shea (shi in several languages of West Africa and karité in French; also anglicized as shea butter) is also the source of an oil-rich nut, the source of edible "shea butter", which is the major lipid source for many African ethnic groups and is also used in traditional and Western cosmetics and medications. The 'miracle fruit' Synsepalum dulcificum is also in the Sapotaceae.
Trees of the genus Palaquium (gutta-percha) produce an important latex with a wide variety of uses.
The seeds of the tree Argania spinosa (L.) Skeels produce an edible oil, traditionally harvested in Morocco.
The family name is derived from zapote, a Mexican vernacular name for one of the plants (in turn derived from the Nahuatl tzapotl) and Latinised by Linnaeus as sapota, a name now treated as a synonym of Manilkara (also formerly known by the invalid name Achras).
Genera[edit]
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References[edit]
- ^ Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2009). "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III" (PDF). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 161 (2): 105–121. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
- ^ "Sapotaceae Juss., nom. cons.". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2003-01-17. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
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