The Economic Botany of Manilkara zapota (L.) Van Royen :: Botany

The Economic Botany of Manilkara zapota (L.) Van Royen America is well versed in the use of a byproduct of the plant Manilkara zapota (L.) Van Royen, yet few people are aware of this product's history. Chewing gum has its origins in the economic botany of the Chicle tree (M. zapota). Throughout Mexico and Central America, the Sapotaceae plant family is recognized for its latex. Manilkara zapota (synonym: Achras zapota L.) is an evergreen canopy tree of medium size (15-30 meters in height) native to Central America, which is currently cultivated throughout the tropics of the world (Castner, Timme, & Duke, 1998). The Sapotaceae (Soapberry family) belongs to the Ebenales order along with the Ebenaceae, Styracaceae, Lissocarpacee, and Symplocaceae according to the Cronquist system of plant classification (Jones & Luchsinger, 1986). Historically, M. zapta was an important source of timber and latex in the new world tropics (Janzen, 1983). The latex is a milk-white exudate produced in laticifer canals under the phloem bark surface (Simpson & Ogorzaly, 1995). The latex is known as chicle, which had its highest demand during the rubber boom of tropical America in the 1800's. When the United States and Great Brittain established Rubber tree (Hevea spp.) plantations in southeast Asia in 1876, the rubber boom occurred in tropical America. Economies were left helpless and Indian rubber collectors were massacred (Hill, 1996; Stanfield, 1998). The Chicle tree (synonyms: Sapodilla, Naseberry, Nispero) was the lone latex plant to economically survive. The Mayan Indians of Mexico and Central America traditionally have chewed the raw chicle latex. Furthermore, Aztec prostitutes loudly snapped their chewing gum to advertise their trade during the height of pre-Columbian Aztec civilization (Plotkin, 1993). This custom was common to many Mexicans, including an eccentric political leader from Veracruz. He is Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, eleven time president of Mexico (born 1794, died 1876). His military prowess is capped by success at the battle of the Alamo (1836), where Santa Anna's troops killed Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie (Simpson & Ogorzaly, 1995). His eccentric political ways got him exiled to the West Indies. The U. S. Secretary of State, William Seward, payed Santa Anna a visit in the West Indies. Assuming he gained Seward's trust, Santa Anna sailed to New York in 1866. Santa Anna's shipmates stole his money, leaving him stranded in America where Santa Anna was turned away by Secretary of State Seward. The exiled Mexican president was a wise businessman and politician who brought some chicle with him to New York.