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Mangifera zeylanica
Mangifera zeylanica, the Sri Lanka wild mango, is a large, slow-growing evergreen tree endemic to Sri Lanka and the tallest member of the mango genus. It is wild rather than cultivated, so it is grown mainly as a shade or conservation tree rather than for its fruit.
Mangifera zeylanica, or Sri Lanka wild mango, is a wild species of mango relative endemic to Sri Lanka. This stately tree is the tallest member of the mango genus, Mangifera, and one of the two tallest trees in the family Anacardiaceae. The mango fruits are edible and have an excellent taste. It is called aetamba (ඇටඹ) or wal amba in Sinhala and kaddu-ma in Tamil.
The species was first described as Buchanania zeylanica by Carl Ludwig Blume in 1850. In 1876 the British botanist and explorer Joseph Dalton Hooker placed the species in genus Mangifera as M. zeylanica.
It mainly grows in forests of the intermediate and wet zones up to 800 m (2,600 ft), but can also be found in the Dry Zone along waterways and in moist valley areas. It occurs at low population densities, scattered here and there in forests, and, like many native plants, is declining in unprotected areas.
The fruit is eaten by villagers. The soft wood has been used for making tea cases and the like. The tree is not cultivated, but could be used for crossing and improving mango varieties and as a rootstock.
Mangifera applanata · Binjai · Mangifera caloneura · Bachang · Mangoso · Mangifera laurina · Kwini · Bambangan · Mangifera pentandra · Mango
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Mangifera zeylanica by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
