Mangue

Par un écrivain mystérieux

Last updated 05 juin 2024

The mango tree (Mangifera indica L.) is a tree of the family Anacardiaceae, native to southern Asia, widely grown in tropical countries for its fruit, mango. It is probably, with the date palm, one of the oldest fruit trees grown.The mango is a tree native to eastern India and Burma. It was introduced in the sixteenth century in Africa by the Arabs and in Brazil by the Portuguese.It is widely cultivated in all tropical countries from the seventeenth century, particularly in Africa, Reunion and Mauritius, Seychelles, the West Indies and Brazil.The mango tree is a large tree that can reach 10 to 25 meters in height, with a crown of 20 meters in diameter. Its bark is smooth, from a dark gray-brown to black. Its alternate leaves, whole, oblong and pointed, are persistent. They can measure from 15 to 35 cm long and 6 to 16 cm wide. When crumpled, they exhale a smell of turpentine. Their color is an orange-pink at the beginning of their growth then passes by a bright dark red hue before becoming dark green at maturity,The flowers, reddish white, are small and clustered in terminal clusters 20 to 50 cm long. They have five petals 5 to 10 mm long, five sepals and five stamens. The superior ovary contains only one egg. In the middle of the spring, after the end of flowering, it takes three to four months for the fruits to mature.The fleshy fruit is an oblong-shaped drupe attached to a long peduncle, variable in size depending on the variety, from 20 to 45 cm long and 7 to 12 cm in diameter, weighing from 500 g to 2.5 kg. The skin is smooth and thin, fairly resistant, is ripe green, yellow or scarlet (depending on the varieties) more or less spotted with green and red, purple or pink (on the side exposed to the sun). The rather large and flattened nucleus contains a single large seed (4-7 cm long and 3-4 cm wide and 1 cm thick) adhering to the flesh. It is covered with fibers more or less developed in the flesh according to the varieties. Its shape can be round, oval or kidney shaped. Its flesh is more or less unctuous, juicy, sweet and fragrant depending on the variety, and is often sweet like that of peach, hence its nickname