Morphological description of Manilkara salzmannii (Sapotaceae) fruits and seeds

Abstract

Manilkara gender has a considerable economic value, because of the edible fruits, the quality of its wood, the latex and the fact that it can be used for popular medicine and ornamentation. In Brazil, the gender is represented by approximately 19 species that are mainly distributed through the Atlantic Forest and coastal vegetation. The present study aimed to characterize the biometric aspects of Manilkara salzmannii seeds and fruits in order to contribute to the biology and behavior of the species, and to give important subsidies for its identification. The mature fruits were collected manually or with the help of a pruning shears, stored in paper bags, identified and cooled until processing. A total of 100 fruits and 100 seeds were randomly selected for the morphological analysis. The seeds were manually extracted from the fruits, washed in running water and weighted, in order to determine the number of seeds per kilogram and the weight of a thousand seeds. The fruits and the seeds were analyzed with the aim of contributing as a tool for the differentiation of the species and helping in the determination of the species variability in dispersion studies and dispersion agents. It is also important for the analysis of succession and regeneration of forest ecosystems.