Manilkara

Manilkara

Manilkara jaimiqui ssp. emarginata branch with developing fruit
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Ericales
Family:	Sapotaceae
Subfamily:	Sapotoideae
Tribe:	Sapoteae
Genus:	Manilkara Adans., conserved name
Type species
M. kauki (L.) Dubard
Synonyms
Achras L. (rejected name) Sapota Mill. (superfluous name) Stisseria Scop. 1777 illegitimate homonym not Stisseria Heist. ex Fabr. 1759 (Apocynaceae) Hornschuchia Spreng. Synarrhena Fisch. & C.A.Mey. Eichleria M.M.Hartog Muriea M.M.Hartog Mahea Pierre ex L.Planch. Northiopsis Kaneh. Shaferodendron Gilly Murianthe (Baill.) Aubrév. Abebaia Baehni Nispero Aubrév. Manilkariopsis (Gilly) Lundell Chiclea Lundell Mopania Lundell

Manilkara is a genus of trees in the family Sapotaceae. They are widespread in tropical and semitropical locations, in Africa, Madagascar, Asia, Australia, and Latin America, as well as various islands in the Pacific and in the Caribbean. A close relative is the genus Pouteria.

Trees of this genus yield edible fruit, useful wood, and latex. The best-known species are M. bidentata (balatá), M. chicle (chicle) and M. zapota (sapodilla). M. hexandra is the floral emblem of Prachuap Khiri Khan Province in Thailand, where it is known as rayan. M. obovata shares the vernacular name of African pear with another completely different species, Dacryodes edulis, and neither should be confused with Baillonella toxisperma, known by the very similar name, African pearwood.

The generic name, Manilkara, is derived from manil-kara, a vernacular name for M. kauki in Malayalam.

Manilkara trees are often significant, or even dominant species in their native ecosystems, such as East Deccan dry evergreen forests, Central American premontane tropical wet forests, or together with Cynometra, in the Arabuko Sokoke National Park.