Mangle Dulce
Maytenus phyllanthoides
Family: Celastraceae
Large evergreen shrub growing up to 12’ tall x 15’ wide, often much smaller in the low desert. Flowers are small but interesting, blooming in warm weather. Plants can be dioecious (different sexes on different plants) or monoecious (have both sexes on one plant). Orange dry, capsular fruits split open to reveal 1-3 seeds with red, edible aril (fleshy coating around the seed).
Grow in full to part sun, moderate water with good drainage, hardy to 10° F. Most of the plants in the trade in Tucson seem to be from the same cutting stock so we rarely if ever see fruits. Birds love the fruits/seeds. Flowers are very nectar-rich.
Great habitat plant. Plants very salt tolerant.
Photo by Mountain States Wholesale Nursery
Maytenus Phyllanthoides on iNaturalist
This species has a long history of medicinal use. Used as remedies for toothache and scurvy. The gum is used as a substitute for gutta percha to bind splints for broken limbs, in golf balls or as insulating material. In tropical America mangle dulce wood is sometimes used for fuel.
Coastal prairies, marshes, clay or sand-clay mounds, often saline sites—most concentrated in Baja California and Sonora, but also found in coastal Texas and Florida.
The dry, orange, capsular fruits split open to reveal seeds with fleshy red aril. Photo by John D Reynolds, iNaturalist
Plants grow especially wide on sandy soils as found on the coast. Photo by Martin Purdy, iNaturalist