Food Plants International - Plant Fact Sheets Spondias dulcis - Golden Apple

Edible Poriton: Fruit, Leaves, Vegetable

Often a Golden apple tree grows to a large tree which can be up to 30 m high but is more often 15 m high in cultivation. It has a trunk 60 cm across which can have buttresses. The bark on the trunk of the tree is fairly smooth. The twigs break off easily. The wood is soft and not much use. The leaf is made up of 4 to 12 pairs of leaflets which have fine teeth around the edge. The leaves are 20-30 cm long. The leaves are smooth and dark green on top and pale green underneath. The leaves are alternate. The leaves of the tree fall off for a part of the year. The old leaves wither to a bright yellow colour. The flowers are produced near the ends of the branches and mostly the flowers develop before the new young leaves grow. The flowers occur as several flowers on long stalks. The flower panicle is 15 to 30 cm long. The flowers are small and white. They look something like a mango flower. The fruit is yellow, oval and up to 7 cm long and 4 cm across. Sometimes the outside of the fruit has a mottled black colour. There is one large stone inside divided into 5 cells with a seed in each. The stone is branched and has fibres.