Mango Tree

Where it grows

The mango is native to the eastern Himalayan foothills and the forests of South and Southeast Asia, where it has been cultivated for over 4,000 years. It now grows across the tropics and warm subtropics, with India producing nearly half the world’s annual harvest, followed by China, Thailand, and Mexico.

How to recognise it

Mango trees develop a broad, dense, dome-shaped crown of glossy lance-shaped leaves. New flushes of leaves are coppery pink, hanging limply before they harden and turn dark green. Tiny pinkish-white flowers cluster on branched panicles, and the fruit is a fleshy drupe with a single flat stone.

Uses

Cultivars number in the thousands, from the famous Alphonso of western India to the Kent and Tommy Atkins of Florida supermarkets. Beyond the fresh fruit, mangoes go into pickles, chutneys, lassis, dried slices, and amchur powder.

In culture

Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain traditions all venerate the mango. The Buddha is said to have meditated in a mango grove, and the leaves are still hung over doorways at Indian weddings as a sign of prosperity.