''Melicoccus'' is a genus of ten species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the family Sapindaceae, native to tropical regions of northern and western

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

. They are

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s growing to tall, with alternate

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and in ...

leaves with 4 or 6 opposite leaflets (no terminal leaflet). The fruit is a drupe. Several species, but principally '' M. bijugatus'', are widely cultivated in their native areas and elsewhere in

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

and the Caribbean for their fruit. Some species of the related genus ''

Talisia ''Talisia'' is a genus of 52 species of flowering plants in the family Sapindaceae, native to tropical regions of the Americas. The genus is closely related to '' Melicoccus'', with some species sometimes included in that genus. The species are ...

'' are sometimes included in ''Melicoccus''. ;Species *'' Melicoccus antioquensis'' Acevedo-Rodríguez — Colombia *'' Melicoccus aymardii'' Acevedo-Rodríguez — Venezuela *''

Melicoccus bijugatus ''Melicoccus bijugatus'' is a fruit-bearing tree in the soapberry family Sapindaceae, native or naturalized across the New World tropics including South and Central America, and parts of the Caribbean. Its stone-bearing fruits are edible. It ...

'' Jacq. – Mamoncillo ( Colombia,

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

) *'' Melicoccus espritosantensis'' Acevedo-Rodríguez — eastern Brazil *'' Melicoccus jimenezii'' (Alain) Acevedo-Rodríguez — Dominican Republic *'' Melicoccus lepidopetalus'' Radlk. – Motoyoé or Yva Povo ( Bolivia, Brazil,

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

), Argentina *'' Melicoccus novogranatensis'' Acevedo-Rodríguez — Colombia and Ecuador *'' Melicoccus oliviformis'' HBK — Mexico, Central and South America and Trinidad *'' Melicoccus pedicellaris'' (Sagot ex Radlk.) Acevedo-Rodríguez Suriname, French Guiana and Brazil *'' Melicoccus petiolutatus'' Acevedo-Rodríguez — Peru

Taxonomy

The genus ''Melicoccus'' was first described by Patrick Browne, an Irish doctor and botanist, in 1756. This description was based on ''M. bijugatus'' trees which were cultivated in Jamaica. In 1760, Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin described the first species in Browne's genus, which he named ''M. bijugatus''. In 1762 Linnaeus used a spelling variation of the name ''Melicocca bijuga''. Over the next two centuries, Linnaeus' spelling variation was used in almost all publications. A proposal was made in 1994 to conserve ''Melicocca'' over ''Melicoccus'', but the proposal was rejected, leading to a restoration of the original version of the name. In 1888 German taxonomist Ludwig Radlkofer placed ''Melicoccus'' in the tribe Melicocceae together with eight other genera. In his monograph on the Neotropical members of the tribe (''

'' and ''Melicoccus'') Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez suggested that although ''Talisia'' and ''Melicoccus'' appeared to form a monophyletic group, the other (Old World) genera probably did not belong to the same lineage.

References

New World Fruits Database: ''Melicoccus lepidopetalus''
Sapindaceae genera Sapindaceae {{Sapindales-stub