Mamón or mamoncillo (Melicoccus bijugatus): I show you the tree of my house and I share learned botanical knowledge.

josearmandor (50)in #steemstem • 6 years ago

Mamón or mamoncillo (Melicoccus bijugatus): I show you the tree of my house and I share learned botanical knowledge.

Hello dear friends of Steemit, I hope you are very well. Today I want to share with you what I have learned about the biology of a wonderful tree that is in my house since before birth.

Let's start!

Note the scattered pattern of the leaves and the serosity on their surface.

Melicoccus bijugatus, commonly known as mamón or mamoncillo is a large tree, which is botanically located within the family Sapindaceae, which includes a large number of trees and shrubs whose main characteristic are its scattered leaves, which contain numerous excretory cells on its surface. The trunk of M. bijugatus usually has a large diameter, and the height of the tree tends to reach 40 meters, if no physical element intervenes in its growth. In Venezuela, specifically in the central region of the country this tree changes its leaves to mid-February, then exhibiting a large number of small inflorescences (grouping of flowers) that sprout from the newly emerged leaf buds. This season coincides with the presence of a constant wind that ends up eliminating most of the small flowers of the tree. Those that survive will give rise to the green fruits that will mature at the end of May, once the rainy season enters the country. The fruits of M. bijugatus are formally drupes, where the edible part of it surrounds a woody center that is often called bone.

Some photos of the trunk, leaves and fruits.

The trunk of M. bijugatus usually has a large diameter.

Mature fruit of M. bijugatus.

Mature fruit stuck to the tree.

Leaf of M. bijugatus.

I have a tree in my house!

I tell you interesting facts about him.

As I mentioned at the beginning, in my house is a huge tree of M. bijugatus, whose sowing date is unknown even by the oldest of my family. As many of you will know I am a student of Biology at Central University of Venezuela, and although my academic inclination has always been zoology, in one way or another the study of botany also has attracted attention, and more when studying ecological relationships between plants and animals. Since I was little I was always struck by the fact that some trees of M. bijugatus gave fruits and others did not. Investigating on the subject I found that the flowers of this species have separate sexes, and that the self-pollination is not defined naturally in it. For this reason the people of my village used to call males the trees that did not give fruits and females to those that did. This is certainly true, the flowers of this tree have a defined sex, and the pollination is carried out by mechanical elements external to the plant. One of them is the wind, as well as many species of hymenoptera insects, mainly bees and small wasps.

It is interesting the precision that ethnobotanical knowledge tend to have in relation to the physiology and metabolism of many species. Popularly it is said that the fruits of the mamón reach their greater sweetness when the first rains of the year fall. In fact it is known that the processes of synthesis of metabolic sugars in plants of the family Sapindaceae use in their reactions the water absorbed by the roots of the plant. Another interesting fact about this tree is that it projects a nice shade from its wide canopy of leaves. In addition, the main trunk and side of the tree are completely lignified, so they offer an incredible resistance to weight, making climbing up to pick their fruits is an easy and fun task. This tree is also known for its constant leaf exchange, which occurs prior to photosynthesis. The number of leaves that fall is really impressive, because what you have at home is synonymous with sweeping leaves fallen day and night. Another interesting fact about M. bijugatus is the plasticity of its seeds to germinate in almost any place, in fact, it is enough that there is a little moisture to see a small seedling grow.