Botany
Sineguelas is a deciduous tree growing to a height of 5 meters. Trunk is stout, with thick spreading branches. Leaves are pinnate, 15 to 25 centimeters long. Leaflets occur in 5 to 9 pairs, oblong-ovate, 5 to 7 centimeters long. Flowers are solitary or fascicled in the axils of the fallen leaves, reddish, and 3 to 3.5 millimeters long. Fruit is smooth and thin-skinned, oblong or subglobose, about 2.5 centimeters long, with a fleshy pericarp, yellowish green or dark-purplish outside, with a large and stony seed. When ripe, the seed is surrounded by a soft, sweet, and aromatic juicy pulp.
Distribution
- Cultivated for its edible fruit throughout the Philippines.
- Introduced from tropical America by the Spaniards.
- Now pantropic; naturalized throughout the tropics all over the world.
By: stuartxchange.org