Spondias
(an old Greek name, used by Theophrastus for the plum, which the fruit of this genus much resembles). Hog Plum; Otaheite Apple. Including Poupartia. ORD. Anacardiaceae. A genus comprising about eight species of stove trees, scattered over the tropics. Flowers small, shortly pedicellate; calyx small, deciduous, four or five-cleft; petals four or five, spreading, sub-valvate. Drupes fleshy. Leaves often clustered near the apices of the branchlets, alternate, impari-pinnate; leaflets opposite, often long-acuminate. A selection of the introduced species is given below. They thrive in a compost of loam and sand. Large cuttings will root in sand or mould, in heat.
S. borbonica (Bourbon). fl. dark-purple, in axillary and terminal, compound racemes. l. with numerous entire, acuminated leaflets. h. 40ft. Bourbon and Mauritius, 1825.
S. dulcis (sweet). Sweet Otaheite Apple. fl. yellowish-green, in a divaricate panicle. June. fr. golden-yellow, with somewhat the flavour of pine-apple. l., leaflets elliptic-oblong, acuminate, repandly crenulated, smooth, with parallel veins. h. 50ft. Society Islands, 1793.
S. lutea (yellow). Golden Apple; Jamaica Plum. fl. yellowish-white; racemes panicled, often exceeding the leaves. Summer. fr. yellow, ovoid, 2in. long, with an agreeable, acid, aromatic flavour. l., leaflets three to eight-jugate, petiolulate, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, acuminate, sub-entire or serrulated. h. 30ft. West Indies, 1739.
S. purpurea (purple). fl. purplish; racemes lateral, simple, few-flowered, much shorter than the leaves. Summer. fr. yellow, or tinged with purple. l., leaflets eight to ten-jugate, shortly petiolulate, elliptic-oblong, somewhat blunt, usually serrated. h. 30ft. West Indies, 1817.