Spondias dulcis (Golden Plum, Ambarella)

A 20 to 40 feet tall tree from the genus Spondias and from the family Anacardiaceae, native to Polynesia. The crown is symmetrical and usually constructed from a few thick branches. The bark is smooth, at first green, later brown. The wood has a whitish gray to grey sapwood and a gray-brown core. It is straight grained and dull.b

The alternate leaves are odd-pinnate, and are 8 to 24 inches long. Each of the nine to 25 leaflets have short stalks, they are elliptical, are with a maximum of 1 inches wide and about 2.4 inches long. The leaf margin is serrated and slightly curved downward. At the beginning of the dry-cool season the leaves fall off, after a few weeks the new sprout will begin.

The flowers are in 8 to 12 inches long panicles, there are female, male and hermaphrodite flowers. The flowers are fivefold with 10 stames, the petals are up to 3 mm long. The pistil is sitting on a disc and has five styles.

The fruit ripen throughout the year. They are circular to elliptical stone fruits which are 2 to 4 inches long and weight up to 500 g. The fruits are in pairs up to twelve of the hanging fruit stands. The skin is thin, firm and reddish brown at the beginning. At the ripe peel and pulp is goldenn yellow. The pulp is juicy and gets a pineapple-like taste. When the fruits become soft, they get a musky smell. The stone is hard core and 1 to 1.5 inches long. 1 to 5 seeds sit in it.

The fuits are eaten in-natura, can also used for making jam and juice. The wood is of good quality and is used for veneers, shingles and plywood.

Our specimen was brought by Helton Josué and his wife Emilene on 16th September 2009 and I planted it on the next day out.

Spondias dulcis with still unripen fruits in December

2009, but the plant is still too small, so that the

fruit had to be removed to benefit the growth of

the plant.

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Updated by Joachim Jaeck on March 10th, 2010