Trees or shrubs. Leaves simple, entire, mostly alternate, sometimes crowded together; stipules small or absent. Flowers axillary or produced from the stem, solitary or in clusters, bisexual, radially symmetrical. Sepals mostly free and in 1 or 2 whorls. Petals mostly the same number as the sepals, in 1 whorl and united at the base. Stamens joined to the petals. Carpels fused together. Ovary superior with 1–5 or occasionally more chambers, each containing 1 ovule. Fruit mostly a berry.
A family occasionally grown in warmer districts as native tropical and subtropical rainforest trees in the genera Chrysophyllum, Manilkara, Mimusops, Niemeyera and Palaquium.
Uses Commercial fruits include Manilkara zapota, Sapodilla, and Chrysophyllum cainato, Star Fruit.
Recognition Mostly trees and shrubs, generally with milky white or yellow sap in the twigs and, less frequently, the bark; ovules 1 per cell.
Natural distribution About 116 genera and 1100 species, mostly of tropical rainforests (Australia has 7 genera with about 35 species).
Literature Pennington (1991).
Source: (1997). Sapotaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
Updated by: Rob Cross, January 2018
