Yellow mombin is a small deciduous tree from tropical America, grown mainly for its sour yellow fruit. It is rarely cultivated, so the care notes below are general guidance for a tropical tree.
Family
Anacardiaceae (Cashew family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun
Water
Water regularly while young, then allow the top of the soil to dry between waterings; it tolerates seasonal dry spells once established.
Soil
Well-drained, fertile soil or loamy potting mix.
Temperature
20–35 °C; protect below 10 °C
How easy
Easy
Edible
Yes, some parts
Native range
Mexico to Trop. America
Climate
wet tropical
About
Spondias mombin, also known as yellow mombin, hog plum, amra or cajazeira, is a species of tree and flowering plant in the family Anacardiaceae. It is native to the tropical Americas, including the West Indies. The tree was introduced by the Portuguese in South Asia in the beginning of the 17th century. It has been naturalized in parts of Africa, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, The Bahamas, Indonesia, and other Caribbean islands. It is rarely cultivated except in parts of the Brazilian Northeast.
The mature fruit has a leathery skin and a thin layer of pulp. The seed has an oil content of 31.5%.
Uses
The fruit pulp is either eaten fresh or made into juice, concentrate, jellies, and sherbets.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Spondias mombin 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.