General Information

COMMON NAMES: Mango, King-of-fruits, Honey Mango; German Mangobaum; French Mangue TRADITIONAL NAMES: Vī (RR AT MK MT AK TS TW), Vī Varani (MG), Mango (PL); Other Polynesian - Mago (SAM) GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE e.India - Burma COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Not naturalised?; Land, lowlands - mountains (+++) SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Food (Fruit 4+) Export KEY FEATURES: Massive evergreen tree to 30m. LEAVES in terminal clusters, alternate, narrow-oval, to 30x10cm, leathery, smooth, tip sharp. FLOWERS small in dense clusters. FRUITS ovoid with beak, to 12x8cm; skin leathery green to yellow and red; flesh juicy orange; stone with fibres.

Cook Islands Distribution

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Southern Group: Present    Makatea: Present
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
++++	++++	++++	++++	++++	++?	P		-

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
+	-	-	-	-	-

Mangifera indica Linnaeus
TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); MAGNOLIOPSIDA (=Dicotyledones); ROSIDAE; Sapindales; ANACARDIACEAE

SIGNIFICANCE NOTES -
POSITIVE SIGNIFICANCE: Food (Fruit 4+) Export. Comments: MATERIAL: Timber good for framework and indoor use, soft, whitish yellow, easily worked. Vaka (canoes) on Atiu usually made from trunks.

IDENTIFICATION: Massive evergreen tree to 30m. LEAVES in terminal clusters, alternate, leathery, long-oval to 30x10cm, tip sharp, margin smooth, green, sometimes pink when young. FLOWERS numerous, small, in dense clusters. FRUIT ovoid with a beak, to 12x8cm; ripens with mixture of green, yellow and red; skin thick and tough, flesh orange; stone central, surrounded by fibres.

GENERAL NOTE: Cultivated in India for more than 4000 years, and taken to East Africa by the Persians in the tenth century. Introduced to Hawaii between 1800-1820 from Mexico by Don Francisco de Paul [Wagner et.al.].

Vouchers:
None Recorded.

References:
p.196 Wagner et al.- Flowering Plants of Hawaii
p.522 Neal - In Gardens of Hawaii
p.711 Hortus 3rd
p.725 Royal Hort. Soc. Index of Garden Plants
p.454 Tropica
p.3/450 A.C.Smith - Flora Vitiensis Nova
p.276 R* Cheeseman - Flora of Rarotonga
p.69 Wilder - Flora of Rarotonga
p.412h Whistler - Ethnobotany of the Cook Islands
p.23 McCormack/Kunzle - Rarotonga's Mountain Tracks and Plants

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zD02

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