Anacardiaceae
How to identify a mango tree
Mangifera indica · also called mangga (Indonesian/Malay), xoài (Vietnamese), มะม่วง / mamuang (Thai)
The world's most widely grown tropical fruit by volume, with hundreds of cultivars ranging from fibrous seedling types to premium named selections. Timing and number of crops per year vary strongly by region.
Field marks
These features are typical of the genus Mangifera, so they help confirm you are looking at the right group; the fruit and the details below separate the species.
- Leaves are simple, leathery and lance-shaped, clustered toward the branch ends. New flushes are often bronze, red or purple before hardening to dark green.
- Crushed leaves smell resinous.
- Flowers come in large, upright, branched clusters (panicles) at the branch tips.
Check a photo
Photograph one whole, mature leaf from above, or a flower or fruit, and the identifier will return ranked matches. If mango is the top result, the field marks above are your second opinion.
Leaves, flowers, fruit, or bark — closer and sharper identifies better. Your photo is identified and discarded, never stored.
Where and when you will find it
- Origin / cultivation history
- South Asia (India / Myanmar region)
- USDA zones
- 10-11 (mature trees tolerate brief light frost)
- Climate
- Tropical to warm subtropical; drought-tolerant once established but wants a dry spell before flowering — rain during bloom hurts fruit set via anthracnose.
- Fruiting season
- May, June, July and August (typical, Northern Hemisphere)
- How often grown
- Widely grown
Fruit is the most reliable way to confirm an identification, so May, June, July and August is the easiest window. Outside it, rely on the leaves and the overall habit. A tree growing well outside the climate above is more likely to be a look-alike.
Growing it: seedling or grafted?
A young tree with no fruit is harder to identify and easy to mislabel, so it helps to know how long it takes to reach fruiting age and how it is usually propagated.
- Years to first fruit
- Seedling 5-8 yrs; grafted 2-4 yrs
- Propagation
- Grafting predominant — seedlings are unreliable for named fruit quality except polyembryonic types that come true from seed.
Named cultivars
Our database lists these cultivars of mango. They cannot be told apart from a leaf photo.
Relatives in the Anacardiaceae family
Close relatives share many features, so these are the most likely mix-ups.
Map your mango trees
CanopyTwin keeps every tree on a map with its species, cultivar, photos and history, and counts flowers and fruit from survey photos. It is built for orchards, nurseries and collectors of tropical and rare fruit.
More identification guides: free plant identifier · tropical fruit tree identifier · fruit tree identifier · all species guides