Achras sapota.

Achras sapota Linn. Sapotaceae. Naseberry. Sapodilla. Sapota.

South America. This is a tree found wild in the forests of Venezuela and the Antilles. It has for a long time been introduced into the gardens of the West Indies and South America but has been recently carried to Mauritius, to Java, to the Philippines, and to the continent of India. The sapodilla bears a round berry covered with a rough, brown coat, hard at first, but becoming soft when kept a few days to mellow. The berry is about the size of a small apple and has from 6 to 12 cells with several seeds in each, surrounded by a pulp which in color, consistence, and taste somewhat resembles the pear but is sweeter. The fruit, when tree-ripe, is so full of milk that little rills or veins appear quite through the pulp, which is so acerb that the fruit cannot be eaten until it is as rotten as medlars. In India, Firminger says of its fruit: "a more luscious, cool and agreeable fruit is not to be met with in any country in the world; " and Brandis says: "one of the most pleasant fruits known when completely ripe." It is grown in gardens in Bengal.

Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World, 1919, was edited by U. P. Hedrick.