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The mamoncillo, also known as the quenepa or genip, is a fruit-bearing tree of the species Melicoccus bijugatus.
The mamoncillo is indigenous to a wide swath of the Americas including Central America, Colombia and the Caribbean. This large tropical tree can grow up to 100 feet (30 meters) high.
It is grown and cultivated for its ovoid, green fruit, which grow in bunches. The fruit ripen during the summer. The fruit is classified as a drupe. A mamoncillo fruit has a tight and thin but rigid layer of skin, traditionally cracked by the teeth. Below that is the tart, tangy yellow pulp of the fruit. Each mamoncillo fruit has a large pit inside, the same ovoid shape as the fruit itself. Mamoncillo pits can be roasted and eaten just like sunflower seeds.
The mamoncillo has small, greenish-white, fragrant flowers in panicles. They begin to blossom from the branch tips when the rainy season begins. The mamoncillo is an example of a polygamous plant -- producing both bisexual flowers and flowers that are exclusively male or exclusively female. Occasionally, a bisexual flower will have a "dud" anther that is sterile -- an evolutionary guard against that will prevent developing too many fruits too often, unless cross-pollination occurs.
This tree is popularly planted along roadsides as an ornamental.
Being tropical, the mamoncillo prefers warmer temperatures. Its leaves can be damaged once the temperature hits freezing point, with serious damage occurring at 25° F (-6° C). Gardeners of mamoncillos should occasionally give their plants heavy watering during the summer and propagate via seeds (although grafting can be used for established plants).
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