This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 3 January 2022. Jump to navigation Jump to search This article is about the fruit. A mango mango juice an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree Mangifera indica which is believed to have originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India.
Worldwide, there are several hundred cultivars of mango. Depending on the cultivar, mango fruit varies in size, shape, sweetness, skin color, and flesh color which may be pale yellow, gold, green, or orange. The trees are long-lived, as some specimens still fruit after 300 years. The ripe fruit varies according to cultivar in size, shape, color, sweetness, and eating quality. Depending on cultivar, fruits are variously yellow, orange, red, or green. Ripe intact mangoes give off a distinctive resinous, sweet smell. Mangoes have recalcitrant seeds which do not survive freezing and drying.
Mangoes are believed to have originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. From their center of origin, mangoes diverged into two genetically distinct populations: the subtropical Indian group and the tropical Southeast Asian group. The Indian group is characterized by having monoembryonic fruits, while the Southeast Asian group is characterized by polyembryonic fruits. It was previously believed that mangoes originated from a single domestication event in South Asia before being spread to Southeast Asia, but a 2019 study found no evidence of a center of diversity in India. From tropical Asia, mangoes were introduced to East Africa by Arab and Persian traders in the 9th to 10th centuries. The mango is now cultivated in most frost-free tropical and warmer subtropical climates. Many commercial cultivars are grafted on to the cold-hardy rootstock of Gomera-1 mango cultivar, originally from Cuba.
Its root system is well adapted to a coastal Mediterranean climate. An important breakthrough in mango cultivation is the use of potassium nitrate and ethrel to induce flowering in mangoes. There are many hundreds of named mango cultivars. In mango orchards, several cultivars are often grown in order to improve pollination. Many desired cultivars are monoembryonic and must be propagated by grafting or they do not breed true. Cultivars that excel in one climate may fail elsewhere.