FLOWERING IN BLACK SAPOTES
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Diospyros digyna
FAMILY: Ebenaceae
Black Sapote, the chocolate brown relative of the persimmon, has many of its growers still waiting for fruit. Trees will generally come into bearing on attaining a height of 3 metres, some trees flower as early as 2 years after planting, or at 2 metres. Trees grown from seed may produce male and perfect, or, female flowers on the same plant, or male and female flowers on different plants. To produce fruit, the flower must contain an ovary or female part and anthers or male pollen-producing part. If the male and female parts are not contained in one flower, the female flowers must have pollen transported to them by insects, from male or perfect flowers nearby.
Pictured above are black sapote flowers from two different trees, dissected to expose the sexual organs. The flower on the left is of a good quality, asexually-propagated black sapote, 'REINEKE', from Florida, which produces extra-large oblate fruit up to 1 kg each. As can be seen in the photo, 'REINEKE' flowers have no anthers, only an ovary, thus requiring pollination. The flower on the right from a seedling tree produces medium-size ovate fruit. These flowers have both male and female producing parts, resulting in self pollination and heavy crops.
I planted the 'REINEKE' variety in 1980, and, following 2 years of poor yields, an advanced seedling already known to produce perfect flowers was planted 3 metres from 'REINEKE'. This season both have fruited readily; the male anthers of the seedling tree's flowers have produced sufficient pollen, both for itself, and the adjacent 'REINEKE'. A disadvantage of the ample pollination for 'REINEKE', is that I can no longer enjoy seedless fruits. However, it is advantageous to obtain the extra abundance of fruit now being harvested each season.
The flower may also be used as a guide to determine fruit shape: squat, round flowers produce similar shaped fruit; long oval flowers produce egg-shaped fruit. If your tree is producing heavy crops of flowers and no fruit, apart from growing conditions, dissecting and inspecting the flowers' sexual parts may provide the answer.
DATE: March 1986
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