Description

Distribution

The chicozapote is native to Mexico (Pacific and gulf coasts, especially the Yucatan peninsula), Guatemala (Alta Verapaz, Peten), northern Belize, and the Atlantic coastal forest of Nicaragua (Morton 1987, Pennington 1990). From this region, the tree was transported to the West Indies, India, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Philippines, the Florida Keys, and the rest of the Old World Tropics (Popenoe 1924, Morton 1987, Pennington 1990, Tankard 1990). After its introduction in 1898, chicozapote rapidly grew in popularity in India where it currently has the largest area under cultivation (in the coastal regions of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madras, and Bengal), with Mexico as a secondary center of cultivation (Chadha 1992, Morton 1987). The tree is grown in a limited area of Florida, both as a crop tree and as an ornamental, but as of 1982, only 8 ha were under cultivation (Knight et al. 1984). On the Gulf coast of southeastern Mexico, and in Guatemala and Belize, the chicozapote is one of the codominant species in the upper story of the evergreen lowland forest (selva alta perennifolia) and in the semi-evergreen forest (selva alta subperennifolia) (Pennington 1990). The current distribution pattern of this tree in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize may be a relict of Mayan use of chicozapote as a crop. Relatively dense stands of chicozapote are often found near Maya ruins. Lundell (1937) hypothesized that if the Maya selectively preserved or cultivated chicozapote trees in their agricultural fields, the chicozapote would have had an advantage over other species when the fields were abandoned. The hurricanes that periodically sweep the Yucatan region may also affect the distribution of chicozapote (Alcorn 1994).