Меликоккус двурядный: ботаническое описание и применение кенепы (Mamicillo)

Species of plant

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, commonly called quenepa or guinep, are edible. These fruits have various other names such as Limoncillo, Bajan ackee, Spanish lime or mamoncillo, among numerous other common names.

The genus Melicoccus was first described by Patrick Browne, an Irish physician and botanist, in 1756. This description was based on M. bijugatus trees which were cultivated in Puerto Rico. 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. This fruit, known as quenepa in Puerto Rico, grows particularly abundantly in the municipality of Ponce, and there is a yearly celebration in that municipality known as Festival Nacional de la Quenepa (National Genip Fruit Festival). The fruit ripens during the warm summer months.

Trees can reach heights of up to and come with alternate, compound leaves. The leaves have four elliptic leaflets which are long and wide. They are typically dioecious plants, however autogamous trees occur from time to time. Flowers have four petals and eight stamens and produce void, green drupes which are long and wide. Their pulp is orange, salmon or yellowish in color with a somewhat juicy and pasty texture.

The fruit is a round drupe, approximately in diameter, with a thin, brittle, green peel. The bulk of the fruit is made up of the one (or, rarely, two) whitish seeds, which are surrounded by an edible, orange, juicy, gelatinous pulp. There are efforts in Puerto Rico and Florida to produce cultivars with a more favourable flesh to seed ratio. When ripe, the fruits have a bittersweet, wine like flavour and have mild laxative properties. They are extremely rich in iron and phosphorus. The seed, being slippery, is a potential choking hazard. Fruits mature in the dry season or summer.

The main use of the mamoncillo is its sweet fruits, which are consumed fresh or canned, and can also be used in the preparation of soft drinks and alcoholic beverages. It can produce a strong yellow dye, although it is rarely used for this purpose. The pit is also edible. When roasted, it resembles cashew nuts. The indigenous peoples of the Orinoco river consume them as a substitute for cassava, and in Nicaragua, they are ground and made into horchata as a cure for parasites. The wood of the tree is pale, dense and moderately heavy with a fine grain, and is used for construction, carpentry, and fine cabinetmaking. However, it is not particularly durable, so its use is limited to indoors. The leaves are used in various traditional medicinal preparations, and also used as pest deterrents. The species is also commonly planted along roadsides as an ornamental tree.