- Family:
- Sapotaceae Juss.
- Genus:
- Chrysophyllum L.
Chrysophyllum cainito L.

[FTEA]
Sapotaceae, J. H. Hemsley. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1968
- Morphology Leaves
- This tropical American species has an elliptic leaf, usually 10–12 cm. long, the undersurface of which is clothed with an attractive and persistent reddish-brown silky indumentum.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
- The fruit, known as the star apple or caimito, is greenish-yellow or purplish with a delicious soft pulp. It is usually subglobose and up to 12 cm. in diameter.
[CPLC]
Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R. & Celis, M. (eds.). 2015. Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. http://catalogoplantasdecolombia.unal.edu.co
- Distribution
- Cultivada en Colombia; Alt. 10 - 1560 m.; Andes, Guayana y Serranía de La Macarena, Pacífico, Valle del Magdalena.
- Morphology General Habit
- Árbol
[UNAL]
Bernal, R., G. Galeano, A. Rodríguez, H. Sarmiento y M. Gutiérrez. 2017. Nombres Comunes de las Plantas de Colombia. http://www.biovirtual.unal.edu.co/nombrescomunes/
- Vernacular
- caimitillo, caimito, caimito arisco, caimito de montaña, caimito de monte, caimo, caimo blanco, caimo colorado, caimo de monte, caimo morado, caimo verde, madura, maduraverde, maduroverde
[UPFC]
- Distribution
- Biogeografic region: Andean, Guiana Shield, Pacific. Elevation range: 10–1560 m a.s.l. Cultivated in Colombia. Naturalised in Colombia. Colombian departments: Amazonas, Antioquia, Atlántico, Cundinamarca, Guainía, Huila, Magdalena, Nariño, Quindío, Tolima, Valle del Cauca.
- Habit
- Tree.
- Ecology
- Habitat according IUCN Habitats Classification: forest and woodland, savanna, shrubland, wetlands (inland), artificial - terrestrial.
- Vernacular
- Caimito, Caimito blanco, Caimito morado, Caimo, Caimo colorado, Madura verde
[UPFC]
- Use Environmental
- Environmental uses.
- Use Gene Sources
- Used as gene sources.
- Use Food
- Used for food.
- Use Materials
- Used as material.
- Use Medicines
- Medical uses.
- Use Social
- Social uses.
Native to:
Panamá
Introduced into:
Belize, Cayman Is., Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Mexico Southeast, Nicaragua, Peru, Puerto Rico, Queensland, Society Is., Southwest Caribbean, Tonga, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is.
- Cainito pomiferum Tussac
- Chrysophyllum bonplandii Klotzsch ex Miq.
- Chrysophyllum caeruleum Jacq.
- Chrysophyllum cainito var. caeruleum Jacq.
- Chrysophyllum cainito var. pomiferum (Tussac) Pierre
- Chrysophyllum cainito var. portoricense A.DC.
- Chrysophyllum cainito var. typicum Stehlé
- Chrysophyllum jamaicense Jacq.
- Chrysophyllum maliforme L.
- Chrysophyllum monopyrenum Spreng.
- Chrysophyllum ottonis Klotzsch ex Miq.
- Chrysophyllum sericeum Salisb.
Chrysophyllum cainito L. appears in other Kew resources:
Date | Reference | Identified As | Barcode | Type Status | Has image? |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aug 29, 2003 | Ambriansyah [W.1059], Indonesia | K000009292 | No | ||
Pennington, T.D. [11454], Costa Rica | 54414.000 | No | |||
Barbon [PPI 2319], Philippines | K000720198 | Yes |
First published in Sp. Pl.: 192 (1753)
Accepted by
- Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & Strong, M.T. (2012). Catalogue of seed plants of the West Indies Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 98: 1-1192.
- Baksh-Comeau, Y., Maharaj, S.S., Adams, C.D., Harris, S.A., Filer, D.L. & Hawthorne, W.D. (2016). An annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Trinidad and Tobago with analysis of vegetation types and botanical 'hotspots' Phytotaxa 250: 1-431.
- Davidse, G. & al. (eds.) (2009). Flora Mesoamericana 4(1): 1-855. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, D.F.
- Govaerts, R. (1999). World Checklist of Seed Plants 3(1, 2a & 2b): 1-1532. MIM, Deurne.
- Govaerts, R., Frodin, D.G. & Pennington, D. (2001 publ. 2002). World Checklist and Bibliography of Sapotaceae: 1-364. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
- Hokche, O., Berry, P.E. & Huber, O. (eds.) (2008). Nuevo Catálogo de la Flora Vascular de Venezuela: 1-859. Fundación Instituto Botánico de Venezuela.
- Idárraga-Piedrahita, A., Ortiz, R.D.C., Callejas Posada, R. & Merello, M. (eds.) (2011). Flora de Antioquia: Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares 2: 1-939. Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín.
- Jessup, L.W. (2019). A taxonomic revision of Sapotaceae for mainland Australia Austrobaileya 10: 321-382.
- Leti, M., Hul, S., Fouché, J.-G., Cheng, S.K. & David, B. (2013). Flore photographique du Cambodge: 1-589. Éditions Privat, Toulouse.
- Petersen, J.J., Parker, I.M., Potter, D. (2012). Origins and close relatives of a semi-domesticated neotropical fruit tree: Chrysophyllum cainito (Sapotaceae) American journal of botany 99: 585-604.
- Santisuk, T. & Balslev, H. (eds.) (2014). Flora of Thailand 11(4): 499-666. The Forest Herbarium, National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, Bangkok.
- Welsh, S.L. (1998). Flora Societensis: 1-420. E.P.S. Inc. Utah.
Literature
Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia
- Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R. & Celis, M. (eds.). 2015. Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. http://catalogoplantasdecolombia.unal.edu.co
Kew Backbone Distributions
- Baksh-Comeau, Y., Maharaj, S.S., Adams, C.D., Harris, S.A., Filer, D.L. & Hawthorne, W.D. (2016). An annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Trinidad and Tobago with analysis of vegetation types and botanical 'hotspots' Phytotaxa 250: 1-431.
- Davidse, G. & al. (eds.) (2009). Flora Mesoamericana 4(1): 1-855. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, D.F.
- Gonzalez, F., Nelson Diaz, J. & Lowry, P. (1995). Flora Illustrada de San Andrés y Providencia: 1-281. Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Colombia.
- Hokche, O., Berry, P.E. & Huber, O. (eds.) (2008). Nuevo Catálogo de la Flora Vascular de Venezuela: 1-859. Fundación Instituto Botánico de Venezuela.
- Jessup, L.W. (2019). A taxonomic revision of Sapotaceae for mainland Australia Austrobaileya 10: 321-382.
- Welsh, S.L. (1998). Flora Societensis: 1-420. E.P.S. Inc. Utah.
- Yuncker, T.G. (1959). Plants of Tonga Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 220: 1-283.
Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia
- Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R., & Celis, M. (eds.). (2020). Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia. v1.1. Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Dataset/Checklist. https://doi.org/10.15472/7avdhn
- Burkill HM. (1995). The useful plants of west tropical Africa, Vols. 1-3. The useful plants of west tropical Africa, Vols 1-3.
- Diazgranados et al. (2021). Catalogue of plants of Colombia. Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia project. In prep.
- Diazgranados, M., Allkin, B., Black N., Cámara-Leret, R., Canteiro C., Carretero J., Eastwood R., Hargreaves S., Hudson A., Milliken W., Nesbitt, M., Ondo, I., Patmore, K., Pironon, S., Turner, R., Ulian, T. (2020). World Checklist of Useful Plant Species. Produced by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity.
- FPI (2021). Food Plants International. https://fms.cmsvr.com/fmi/webd/Food_Plants_World?homeurl=https://foodplantsinternational.com/plants/
- GBIF.org (2021). GBIF species matching tool. https://www.gbif.org/tools/species-lookup
- GRIN (2021). Germplasm Resources Information Network from the United States Department of Agriculture. https://www.ars-grin.gov/
- García Castro, N. J. (2011). Plantas nativas empleadas en alimentación en Colombia. Instituo de Investigaciones Biológicas Alexander von Humboldt. http://repository.humboldt.org.co/handle/20.500.11761/31275
- Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humbodlt (2014). Plantas alimenticias y medicinales nativas de Colombia. 2567 registros, aportados por: Castellanos, C. (Contacto del recurso), Valderrama, N. (Creador del recurso, Autor), Bernal, Y. (Autor), García, N. (Autor). http://i2d.humboldt.org.co/ceiba/resource.do?r=ls_colombia_magnoliophyta_2014
- Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt. (2014). Plantas alimenticias y medicinales nativas de Colombia. 2567 registros, aportados por: Castellanos, C. (Contacto del recurso), Valderrama, N. (Creador del recurso, Autor), Bernal, Y. (Autor), García, N. (Autor). http://i2d.humboldt.org.co/ceiba/resource.do?r=ls_colombia_magnoliophyta_2014
- Medicinal Plant Names Services (MPNS) v.10 (2021); http://mpns.kew.org/
- PROTA (2021). Plants Resources of Tropical Africa. https://prota4u.org/database/
- Plants for malaria, plants for fever: Medicinal species in Latin America, a bibliographic survey: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
- RBG, Kew (2021). Kew Economic Botany Collection. https://ecbot.science.kew.org/
- Willis, K.J. (ed.) (2017). State of the World’s Plants 2017. Report. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
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Art and Illustrations in Digifolia
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Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia
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Colombian resources for Plants made Accessible
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Flora of Tropical East Africa
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