Mango

The mango is a stone fruit that grows on the tropical tree *Mangifera indica*. Its original home is northeastern South Asia, covering parts of modern-day Bangladesh, northeastern India, and Myanmar. People have cultivated it in South and Southeast Asia for a very long time, which led to two main groups of cultivated varieties: the "Indian" type and the "Southeast Asian" type. Other species within the *Mangifera* genus also produce edible fruits called mangoes, mostly found in the Malesian ecoregion. Worldwide, there are hundreds of mango cultivars. Their fruits differ in size, shape, sweetness, and skin and flesh color—the flesh can be pale yellow, gold, green, or orange. Mango is the national fruit of India, Pakistan, and the Philippines, and the mango tree is the national tree of Bangladesh. The English word "mango" (plural mangoes or mangos) came into use in the 1500s. It traces back through the Portuguese *manga*, from the Malayalam *manga*, and ultimately from the Tamil *māṉ* (meaning 'mango tree') plus *kāy* (meaning 'unripe fruit or vegetable'). Mango trees can reach 30–40 meters (98–131 feet) tall, with a crown radius of 10–15 meters (33–49 feet). They live a long time—some specimens still produce fruit after 300 years. In deep soil, the taproot goes down about 6 meters (20 feet), with many wide-spreading feeder roots and anchor roots that penetrate deeply. The leaves are evergreen, alternate, and simple, measuring 15–35 centimeters (6–14 inches) long and 6–16 centimeters (2.5–6.5 inches) wide. Young leaves start orange-pink, quickly turn a dark, glossy red, and then become dark green as they mature. Flowers grow in terminal panicles 10–40 centimeters (4–15.5 inches) long; each small, white flower has five petals 5–10 millimeters (0.2–0.4 inches) long and gives off a mild, sweet scent. The fruit contains a single flat, oblong stone. This stone may be fibrous or hairy on its surface and does not separate easily from the pulp. Mangoes can be somewhat round, oval, or kidney-shaped, ranging from 5–25 centimeters (2–10 inches) in length and weighing from 140 grams (5 ounces) to 2 kilograms (5 pounds) each. The skin is leathery, waxy, smooth, and fragrant; when fully ripe, its color can be green, yellow, yellow-orange, yellow-red, or blushed with shades of red, purple, pink, or yellow. Ripe fruits vary by cultivar in size, shape, color, sweetness, and eating quality. Over 500 mango cultivars are known, with most ripening in summer, though some produce a double crop. It takes four to five months from flowering to ripening. Ripe, intact mangoes give off a distinctive resinous, sweet smell. Inside the stone, beneath a woody endocarp 1–2 millimeters (0.04–0.08 inches) thick, lies a single seed 4–7 centimeters (1.6–2.8 inches) long. Mango seeds are recalcitrant—they cannot survive freezing or drying. Trees grow readily from seeds, with the best germination success coming from seeds taken from mature fruit. Mangoes originated between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. The fruit is considered an evolutionary anachronism: its seeds were once spread by a now-extinct forager, such as a megafauna mammal. From their center of origin, mangoes split into two genetically distinct populations: the subtropical Indian group and the tropical Southeast Asian group. The Indian group has monoembryonic fruit, while the Southeast Asian group has polyembryonic fruit. Earlier beliefs held that mangoes came from a single domestication event in South Asia before spreading to Southeast Asia, but a 2019 study found no evidence of a diversity center in India. Instead, it showed higher unique genetic diversity in Southeast Asian cultivars than in Indian ones, suggesting mangoes might have been domesticated first in Southeast Asia before being brought to South Asia. However, the study’s authors noted that this diversity could also stem from other causes, like interspecific hybridization with other *Mangifera* species native to the Malesian ecoregion. Still, the two distinct genetic populations indicate that mango domestication is more complex than once thought, likely involving multiple domestication events in both Southeast Asia and South Asia. Hundreds of named mango cultivars exist. Orchards often grow several cultivars together to improve pollination. Many desired cultivars are monoembryonic and must be propagated by grafting to keep their traits. A common monoembryonic cultivar is 'Alphonso', a major export product often called "the king of mangoes." Cultivars that do well in one climate may fail elsewhere—for instance, the Indian cultivar 'Julie' thrives in Jamaica but needs annual fungicide treatments to survive anthracnose in Florida, while Asian mangoes resist this disease. Today’s western market is dominated by 'Tommy Atkins', a seedling of 'Haden' that first fruited in 1940 in southern Florida and was initially rejected by Florida researchers. Growers and importers worldwide value it for its high productivity, disease resistance, long shelf life, good transportability, size, and appealing color. Despite its commercial success, other cultivars like Alphonso are often preferred by consumers for eating quality.