Bio Diversity Park

Common Name : Naseberry, Chikoo, Sapodilla plum

Hindi Name : चीकू | Scientific Name : Manilkara zapota
Family : Sapotaceae
Uses : It is has environmental uses and social uses, as a medicine and for fuel and food. The fruit and leaves of the plant are rich in phytochemicals and antioxidant compounds. Naseberry has many potential agro-processing applications and may be utilized in the preparation of various food products such as flavored water, iced tea, freeze-dried naseberry snacks and antibacterial packaging for meat. The fruit can be eaten raw, or used in making sherbets, custard, ice cream, pies, jams, jellies etc. The fruit contains tannin, which is astringent. The globose fruit is about 10cm in diameter. The stems are a source of a milky latex called balata or chicle. Some caution is advised since older leaves contain poisonous alkaloids. The plant is a source of sapotin, a glucoside used in medicine as a febrifuge. The wood is noted for its strength and durability, it is also very hard, tough, dense, and resistant to insects. It is suitable for heavy construction, railway ties, furniture, joinery and tool handles
Native: Mexico to Colombia
General Description:

It is a tree and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome. Chikoo is a fairly slow-growing, long-lived tree, upright and elegant, distinctly pyramidal when young. It grows up to to 18 m high in the open but reaching 30 m when crowded in a forest. It is strong and wind-resistant, rich in white, gummy latex. Its leaves are highly ornamental, evergreen, glossy, alternate, spirally clustered at the tips of the forked twigs; elliptic, pointed at both ends, firm, 7.5-11.25 cm long and 2.5-4 cm wide. Flowers are small and bell-like, with 3 brown-hairy outer sepals and 3 inner sepals enclosing the pale-green corolla and 6 stamens. They are borne on slender stalks at the leaf bases. The fruit may be nearly round, oblate, oval, ellipsoidal, or conical; varies from 2 to 4 in 5-10 cm in width. When immature it is hard, gummy and very astringent. Though smooth-skinned it is coated with a sandy brown scurf until fully ripe. The flesh ranges in color from yellowish to light- or dark-brown or sometimes reddish-brown; may be coarse and somewhat grainy or smooth; becomes soft and very juicy, with a sweet flavor resembling that of a pear. Some fruits are seedless, but normally there may be from 3 to 12 seeds which are easily removed as they are loosely held in a whorl of slots in the center of the fruit. They are brown or black, with one white margin; hard, glossy; long-oval, flat, with usually a distinct curved hook on one margin; and about 2 cm long.