Botany of Mango

Mango (Mangifera indica L.), the king of fruits, belongs to the family Anacardiaceae. Myanmar, Thailand, Indo-China, and Malaya during the Eocene or an earlier period in the Cretaceous were assumed to be the origin of genus Mangifera. Later, the genus spread to India, to Sri Lanka in the west, to Eastern Malaysia and to the Philippines in the East. Southeast Asia is said to be the centre of diversity of genus Mangifera with existence of maximum diversity in Peninsular Malaysia. Presently, maximum number of Mangifera species is found in Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Malay Peninsula. 69 species of Mangifera exist worldwide based on morphological characterization which are classified into two sub-genera Mangifera and Limus with several sections. Out of 69 species, M.andamanica, M. griffithii, M.khasiana, M.camptosperma, M.sylvatica, M.odorata, M.zeylanica and M.nicobarica are reported to occur in India. Huge variability has been recorded in M.indica due to its inherent characteristics such as cross-pollination, heterozygosity, incompatibility and polyembryony. The molecular-based phylogenetic tree generated among the different species of Mangifera showed their genetic relatedness based on amplification of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) and ITS genomic regions.