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Sideroxylon grandiflorum
Also called Tambalacoque
Sideroxylon grandiflorum, the dodo tree or tambalacoque, is a long-lived tree in the Sapotaceae family, endemic to Mauritius. It is a wet tropical species, rare in the wild and rarely grown as a garden plant.
Sideroxylon grandiflorum, also known as the tambalacoque or dodo tree, is a long-lived species of tree in the sapote family Sapotaceae. It is endemic to Mauritius.
In 1973, it was argued that the species was becoming extinct. There were supposedly only 13 specimens left, all estimated to be about 300 years old; the true age could not be determined because tambalacoque has no growth rings. Stanley Temple hypothesised that the dodo, which became extinct in the 17th century, ate tambalacoque fruits, and that only after passing through the digestive tract of the dodo could the seeds germinate. Temple force-fed seventeen tambalacoque fruits to wild turkeys in 1977. Seven of the fruits were crushed by the bird's gizzard, while the remaining ten were either regurgitated or passed with the bird's feces. Temple planted the remaining ten fruits, three of which germinated. Temple did not try to germinate any seeds from control fruits that had not been fed to turkeys so the effect on germination of feeding fruits to turkeys was unknown. Studies on tambalacoque seed germination by Hill (1941) and King (1946) found that the seeds germinated without abrading.
The dodo tree is highly valued for its wood in Mauritius, which has led some foresters to scrape the pits by hand to make them sprout and grow.
Sideroxylon acunae · Alachua bully · Sideroxylon altamiranoi · Sideroxylon anomalum · Sideroxylon bullatum · Sideroxylon canariense · Sideroxylon cartilagineum · Saffron plum · Sideroxylon contrerasii · Espejuelo · Sideroxylon dominicanum · Sideroxylon durifolium
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Sideroxylon grandiflorum 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.
