Mango

Scientific Name: Mangifera indica L.

Common Name: Mango                                       

The mango tree is medium to large (roughly 10-30 m high), erect, evergreen, with a symmetrical, rounded canopy which may, with age, attain 30-38 m in width, or a more upright, oval, relatively slender crown.

Leaves

Leaves are alternately arranged, lanceolate, 15 to 40.6 cm 6 to 16 inches in length, and leathery. The newly emerged leaves have different colors depending on the cultivars  - pinkish, amber, pale green and other colors- and at maturity, leaves become dark green.

 Inflorescence (Flowers)

The inflorescence is a many-branched panicle borne at the ends of shoots (branch terminals) with hundreds and even as many as 3,000 to 4,000 minute, yellowish, pinkish-white or reddish flowers. The majority of flowers are staminate (male) and the remainder are perfect (bisexual, hermaphroditic). Many of the unpollinated flowers are shed or fail to set fruit, or the fruit is set but is shed when very young.

Classified as drupe – consisting of the mesocarp (edible fleshy part) and endocarp (large woody, flattened pit). Mango fruits vary in shape (nearly round, oval, ovoid-oblong), size, and color depending upon the cultivar. The ripe mango fruits may be greenish, greenish-yellow, yellow, red, orange, or purple in color and weigh from a few grams to more than two kilograms. The skin is smooth and leathery, surrounding the fleshy, pale-yellow to deep-orange edible portion. The fruits possess a single large, flattened, kidney-shaped seed that is enclosed in a woody husk.

Seed Types

Mango cultivars produce either monoembryonic or polyembryonic seeds. Polyembryonic seeds contain more than one embryo and most of the embryos are genetically identical to the mother tree. Monoembryonic seeds contain one embryo and this embryo possesses genes from both parents. A tree planted from a polyembryonic seed will be identical to its parent tree, whereas a tree planted from a monoembryonic seed will be a hybrid (mix of both parents).

Mango trees less than 10 years old may flower and fruit regularly every year. Thereafter, most mangos tend toward alternate, or biennial, bearing. A great deal of research has been done on this problem which may involve the entire tree or only a portion of the branches. Branches that fruit one year may rest the next, while branches on the other side of the tree will bear.

Blooming is strongly affected by weather, dryness stimulating flowering and rainy weather discouraging it.

Nutritional Value per 100 g of Ripe Mango Flesh

Mangoes are excellent source of vitamins A and C, as well as a good source of potassium. Mangos are bursting with protective nutrients, The vitamin content depends upon the variety and maturity of the fruit, when the mango is green the amount of vitamin C is higher, as it ripens the amount of beta carotene (vitamin A) increases.

Mangoes are high in fiber, but low in calorie, fat and sodium.

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