Sapote (; from ) is a term for a soft, edible

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

. The word is incorporated into the common names of several unrelated fruit-bearing plants native to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

and northern parts of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Species

From Sapotaceae

Some, but not all sapotes, come from the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Sapotaceae 240px, '' Madhuca longifolia'' var. ''latifolia'' in Narsapur, Medak district, India The Sapotaceae are a family of flowering plants belonging to the order (biology)">order Ericales">family (biology)">family of flowering plants belonging to th ...

: * Sapodilla, also called naseberry ('' Manilkara zapota'') is native to Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Belize, and possibly El Salvador. The Sapotaceae were named after a synonym of this species. * Yellow sapote (''

Pouteria campechiana ''Lucuma campechiana'' (commonly known as the cupcake fruit, eggfruit, zapote amarillo or canistel) is an evergreen tree native to, and cultivated in, southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and El Salvador. It is cultivated in other countries, s ...

'') is native to Mexico and Central America. * Mamey sapote ('' Pouteria sapota'') is from southern Mexico to northern South America. * Green sapote ('' Pouteria viridis'') is native to lowland southern Mexico. File:Vietnamese Sapote.JPG, '' Manilkara zapota'', , a kind of Vietnamese sapote File:Mamey.jpg, '' Pouteria sapota'', mamey sapote File:Manilkara zapota.jpg, '' Manilkara zapota'', sapodilla File:Canistel-2.jpg, ''

'', yellow sapote

From other families

* Black sapote ('' Diospyros nigra'': Ebenaceae), from eastern

south to Colombia, is probably the original

Aztec The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the Post-Classic stage, post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central ...

''tzapotl''. * White sapote ('' Casimiroa edulis'':

Rutaceae The Rutaceae () is a family (biology), family, commonly known as the rueRUTACEAE
in Bo ...

) is native to northern and central Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala. * South American sapote ('' Quararibea cordata'':

Malvaceae Malvaceae (), or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include Theobroma cacao, cacao, Cola (plant), cola, cotton, okra, Hibiscus sabdariffa, ...

) is native to the

Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin ...

s of Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. * Sun sapote ('' Licania platypus'': Chrysobalanaceae) is native to southern

south to

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. File:Casimiroa edulis4.jpg, '' Casimiroa edulis'', white sapote File:Zapotes.jpg, '' Quararibea cordata'', South American sapote

References

{{Plant common name Nahuatl words and phrases Tropical fruit Crops originating from the Americas

Species

From Sapotaceae

From other families

See also

References