Family: MALVACEAE
Genus: Matisia
Species: cordata
Species Author: Bonpl.
Vernacular: Chupa chupa, South American Sapote
Synonyms: Quararibea cordata
The Chupa-Chupa tree is fast-growing, erect, to 130 or even 145 ft (40-45 m) high in the wild, though often no more than 40 ft (12 m) in cultivation. It is sometimes buttressed. It has stiff branches in tiered whorls of 5 and copious gummy yellow latex. The semi-deciduous, alternate, long-petioled leaves, clustered in rosettes near the ends of the branches, are broadly heart-shaped, normally 6 to 12 in (15-30 cm) long and nearly as wide. Short-stalked, yellowish-white or rose-tinted, 5-petalled flowers, about 1 in (2.5 cm) wide, with 5 conspicuous, protruding stamens and pistil, are borne in masses along the lesser branches and on the trunk. The fruit is rounded, ovoid or elliptic with a prominent, rounded knob at the apex and is capped with a 2- to 5-lobed, velvety, leathery, strongly persistent calyx at the base, 4 to 5 3/4 in (10-14.5 cm) long and to 3 3/16 in (8 cm) wide, and may weigh as much as 28 oz (800 g). The rind is thick, leathery, greenish-brown, and downy. The flesh, orange-yellow, soft, juicy, sweet and of agreeable flavor surrounds 2 to 5 seeds, to 1 1/2 in (4 cm) long and 1 in (2.5 cm) wide, from which long fibers extend through the flesh.
(Morton, J. 1987. Fruits of Warm Climates.)
The fruits are plentiful in the markets of Antioquia, Buenaventura and Bogotá, Colombia, Puerto Viejo, Ecuador, the Brazilian towns of Tefé, Esperanca, Sao Paulo de Olivenca, Tabetinga, Benjamin Constant and Atalaia do Norte and elsewhere.
(Morton, J. 1987. Fruits of Warm Climates.)
The tree grows wild in lowland rainforests of Peru, Ecuador and adjacent areas of Brazil, especially around the mouth of the Javari River. It is common in the western part of Amazonas, southwestern Venezuela, and in the Cauca and Magdalena Valleys of Colombia. It flourishes and produces especially well near the sea at Tumaco, Colombia.
(Morton, J. 1987. Fruits of Warm Climates.)
This is a fruit that has always been eaten out-of-hand. Those that have the least fibrous flesh may be utilized for juice or in other ways. The pulp is rich in vitamins A and C.
(Morton, J. 1987. Fruits of Warm Climates.)
Little-known outside its natural range, this member of the Malvaceae family has nomenclatural problems. Its current botanical designation is Matisia cordata Humb. & Bonpl., though it is sometimes referred to as Quararibea cordata. In addition, there is no generally accepted vernacular name. "Sapote" and "Zapote" predominate in native countries but these terms, derived from the Nahuatl word for "soft, sweet", are applied to several other fruits and to one in particular, the Sapote, Pouteria sapota.
In 1964, William Whitman obtained seeds from Iquitos, Peru, raised seedlings, planted one on his own property at Bal Harbour, Florida, and distributed the rest to private experimenters. The first to fruit was that grown by B.C. Bowker, Miami, in 1973. Whitman's tree and several others have also borne fruit.
(Morton, J. 1987. Fruits of Warm Climates.)
We currently have 1 herbarium specimens for Matisia cordata in our collection. Click on any specimen below to view the herbarium sheet data.
- 015813 - collected by Tim Flynn in 1995
