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Why is Mangifera casturi not a mango?

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Galatians522:
It does seem slightly arbitrary to me to lump all mangos under the same scientific name of Mangifera Indica when SE Asian Mangos have defining charisteristics that are readily evident even to a layman (such as fruit shape and seed type). Seperate species have been created for less than that before and in my opinion it is worth at least a subspecies designation such as is given to yellow passionfruit. Actually, if you look over at the genus prunus, scientists will tell you that the tree will need to be in bloom or that you will need a magnifying glass to differentiate between some species! Seriously??? I vote for no seperate species if the differences are that minute.

swincher:

--- Quote from: Galatians522 on August 01, 2021, 10:24:10 PM ---It does seem slightly arbitrary to me to lump all mangos under the same scientific name of Mangifera Indica when SE Asian Mangos have defining charisteristics that are readily evident even to a layman (such as fruit shape and seed type). Seperate species have been created for less than that before and in my opinion it is worth at least a subspecies designation such as is given to yellow passionfruit.

--- End quote ---

I think many botanists and biologists would readily admit that where we've drawn the line for species vs. subspecies vs cultivar is pretty arbitrary lots of times. I'd certainly agree that Indian vs SE Asian mangos are at least as different from each other as, say, the three subspecies of avocado.

David H:
Kostermans and Bombard's monograph on the Mangifera genus is titled 'The Mangoes '.   They refer to M.indica,as 'common mango',and  'mango' as a term referring to members of the Mangifera genus.   An example from the preface :  ".....will provide information on existing mango species and their value in the common mango  (Mangifera indica ) industry.   Information is provided on mango (Mangifera ) species growing in very dry areas,......."

fruitlovers:
Imagine Har all the annona species being just called by one common name annona. This actually does happen in some parts of south America. While technically correct this also leads to tremendous confusion when there are so many distinct species. The situation is comparably confusing with all mangifera species just being called mango.

Guanabanus:
True.  Modifiers always required.

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