6691

2: Edible fruits and nuts

Mangifera pentandra Hooker f.

Mangifera pentandra: Fl. Brit. Ind. 2: 14 (1876).

ANACARDIACEAE

2n = 40

— Mangifera pentandra: Mangifera lanceolata Ridley (1911).

— Mangifera pentandra: no generally used vernacular names, often called 'mangga' or 'pauh' which refers also to Mangifera indica. Malaysia: mangga bemban, pauh asal, pauh damar (Peninsular). Thailand: mamuang paa (central).

— Mangifera pentandra is mainly known in cultivation in old orchards in peninsular Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and the Anambas Islands. Perhaps it occurs wild in northern Peninsular Malaysia.

The fruit of both species has only a little bit of flesh which liquidifies at maturity, so that it can be sucked out. More often the fruit is harvested immature, sliced and served in fruit salads with a spicy sauce ('rujak').

— Mangifera pentandra: tree, up to 28 m tall, trunk 90 cm in diameter, occasionally with small buttresses. Leaves oblong to elliptic (11—)16—20(—25)cm x (3.5—)6—9(—15)cm, coriaceous, venation distinct on both surfaces, densely reticulate; leaves reddening when drying; petiole 1.5—3.5(—6)cm long. Inflorescences pyramidal panicles, 15—30 cm long, densely pubescent; flowers yellowish to cream-white, calyx 5-lobed, petals 5, stamens 5, 3—5 fertile. Fruit a drupe, like a small mango, 7—10 cm x 4—5 cm, yellowish-green; flesh orange, soft and watery, with few fibres, rather sweet. Stone 4—5 cm x 3—3.5 cm x 1.7—2 cm, with thick woody endocarp which is rather deeply grooved. Mangifera pentandra much resembles Mangifera indica. Its densely hairy panicles and its flowers with 3—5 fertile stamens are discriminative. The rate of fruit set is characteristically high.

Both species are at home in fairly wet tropical lowlands, Mangifera laurina also at elevations above 300 m.

Mangifera laurina is a suitable rootstock for cultivars of Mangifera indica grown on periodically inundated river banks in Kalimantan. The loose glabrous inflorescences show no sign of anthracnose (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides), where those of the mango are severely damaged.

Both species might contribute to the improvement of Mangifera indica through breeding programmes. Crossing Mangifera laurina's resistance to anthracnose and the heavy fruit set of Mangifera pentandra into Mangifera indica would be a major breakthrough. Heavy fruit set may result from more intensive pollination in species with 3—5 fertile stamens instead of a single one. Five-stamen close relatives of Mangifera indica include Mangifera caloneura Kurz and Mangifera cochinchinensis Engl., which occur in mainland South-East Asia.

It is to be expected that both species will continue to lose ground to the common mango. Their main role may lie in the hybridization of the mango.

Ding Hou, 1978. Anacardiaceae. In: van Steenis, C.G.G.J. (Editor): Flora Malesiana. Series 1. Vol. 8. pp. 426—428.
Mukherjee, S.K., 1949. A monograph of the genus Mangifera L. Lloydia 12: 73-136.
Fairchild, D., 1948. The mango relatives of Cochinchina; those with five-stamen flowers. Florida State Horticultural Society 61: 250—255.

J.M. Bompard

Bompard, J.M., 1991. Mangifera pentandra Hooker f.. In: Verheij, E.W.M. and Coronel, R.E. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 2: Edible fruits and nuts. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea