Chickoo (Zapota)

The Chikoo, or Sapodilla tree, is an excellent choice for use as a shade, street, or fruit-bearing tree. It can grow up to 45 feet tall with a broad, 40-foot canopy. This evergreen tree features smooth, glossy dark green leaves that are about six inches long and cluster at the ends of branches. Small, cream-colored flowers bloom year-round in the leaf axils.

Its fruit, around four inches wide, has a rough brown skin and ripens in spring and summer with soft, juicy yellow-brown flesh that is rich and sweet. Each fruit takes about ten months to mature from flower to harvest. When the bark or branches are cut, they release a milky white latex known as chicle—the original ingredient used in chewing gum. Mature trees have attractive, flaky bark and a flared trunk base with prominent surface roots.