How do I tell a mango tree from an avocado tree?

Crush a leaf. Mango leaves are long, narrow, stiff and leathery, crowded toward the branch tips, and smell resinous. Avocado leaves are broader and softer, and many avocado types smell faintly of aniseed. Mango flowers come in large upright clusters at the branch tips; avocado flowers are small, greenish-yellow and very numerous.

How can I tell lychee, longan and rambutan trees apart?

All three have pinnately compound leaves, so leaves alone are a weak guide; the fruit settles it. Lychee fruit has a red, bumpy, leathery skin. Longan is smaller, round and smooth with a thin tan shell. Rambutan is covered in soft, hair-like spines. Lychee leaves usually have two to four pairs of glossy, pointed leaflets.

Which tropical fruit trees bear fruit on the trunk?

Jackfruit, cempedak, cacao, jaboticaba, bilimbi and langsat all carry fruit directly on the trunk or main branches, and durian fruits on the older, thicker branches. Seeing fruit or flowers on bare wood narrows the possibilities a great deal.

Is a photo identifier reliable for rare tropical fruit?

Less reliable than for common garden plants, because rare species have fewer reference photos. Expect the genus to be right more often than the species. Check the result against the field marks in our species guides, and add a second photo of flowers or fruit when the top results are close.

Why does it say jackfruit when my tree is cempedak?

They are close relatives in the same genus, with similar leaves and white latex, and both fruit on the trunk. The identifier can confuse them. Cempedak fruit is usually smaller and more elongated; the fruit, the smell and local knowledge are the reliable ways to separate them.

Tropical Fruit Tree Identifier (Free, by Photo)

CanopyTwin started as a survey of a durian and mixed tropical fruit farm, and tropical fruit trees are where general plant identifier apps are weakest. These species have far fewer reference photos than roses or tomatoes, close relatives look alike, and many trees are grafted cultivars this tool cannot reliably distinguish. The identifier above gives you a shortlist. This page explains how to check it by eye, and our species guides cover 85 tropical and rare fruit species and cultivars one by one.

Four questions that narrow it down fast

What does the sap look like? Tear a leaf or nick a twig. White latex points to the jackfruit genus (Artocarpus) or the sapote family (sapodilla, mamey, abiu, star apple). Yellow latex points to Garcinia (mangosteen and relatives). Resinous sap with a turpentine smell points to mango.
Opposite or alternate leaves? Opposite leaves point to Garcinia, and to the myrtle family (guava, jaboticaba, Surinam cherry, wax apple). Most of the others are alternate.
Simple or compound leaves? Compound leaves point to the lychee family (lychee, longan, rambutan, pulasan, ackee), to langsat and santol, to tamarind and ice cream bean, and to starfruit.
Where is the fruit? Fruit or flowers on the trunk point to jackfruit, cempedak, cacao, jaboticaba, bilimbi or langsat.

Look-alikes and how to separate them

Mango and avocado

Both are large evergreen trees with big, simple, smooth-edged leaves, and both push reddish new growth. Mango leaves are long, narrow and stiff, clustered at the branch ends, and smell resinous when crushed. Avocado leaves are broader and softer, and many types smell of aniseed. In flower, mango carries big upright sprays at the tips; avocado is covered in small greenish-yellow flowers.

Lychee, longan and rambutan

All are in the soapberry family with pinnately compound leaves. Lychee usually has two to four pairs of glossy, pointed leaflets and bronze-red new growth. Longan fruit is small, round and smooth with a tan shell. Rambutan fruit is covered in soft spines, and its close relative pulasan has short, thick knobs instead.

Jackfruit, cempedak and breadfruit

All three bleed white latex from every part. Breadfruit leaves are huge and deeply lobed. Jackfruit and cempedak leaves on mature trees are usually unlobed, though young trees can show lobes, and both fruit straight off the trunk. Breadfruit fruits at the branch ends.

Durian

Turn a leaf over: durian leaves have a coppery to silvery, scaly underside that is unusual among fruit trees. Flowers and fruit hang from the older branches. Named cultivars such as Musang King, Monthong and D24 cannot be told apart from a leaf photo; that takes the fruit or the grafting record.

Mangosteen and its relatives

Mangosteen has thick, glossy, opposite leaves and yellow latex in the rind of unripe fruit and in cut stems. Related Garcinia species, such as lemon drop mangosteen and imbe, share the opposite, leathery leaves but have smaller, yellow to orange fruit.

Soursop, sugar apple and cherimoya

Annona species have simple leaves set in two flat rows along each twig and flowers with thick, fleshy, triangular petals. The fruit separates them: soursop is large and green with soft curved spines, sugar apple is knobbly and breaks into segments, and cherimoya is a highland species with a scaled or smooth skin.

The sapotes

Several unrelated trees are called sapote. Mamey sapote, sapodilla and star apple are in the sapote family and bleed white latex; star apple leaves have a golden-brown silky underside. Black sapote is a persimmon relative, and white sapote is in the citrus family with palmately compound leaves.

Palms and non-trees

Not every tropical fruit grows on a tree. Açaí is a slender clustering palm, peach palm trunks often bear dark spines (some cultivated forms are spineless), and salak is a nearly stemless, very spiny palm with snakeskin fruit. Papaya is a soft-stemmed giant herb, pineapple a ground rosette, and passion fruit a vine with tendrils.

Getting a better photo in the tropics

Bright overhead sun and deep canopy shade make tropical photos hard. Shoot in the morning or late afternoon, or step to the edge of the canopy. Pick a mature leaf, not the soft, coloured new flush. For tall trees, a fallen leaf or fruit from directly under the tree is a fine subject, as long as it is fresh. More tips are on the plant identifier page.

Tropical fruit species guides

All species guides

Frequently asked questions

How do I tell a mango tree from an avocado tree?: Crush a leaf. Mango leaves are long, narrow, stiff and leathery, crowded toward the branch tips, and smell resinous. Avocado leaves are broader and softer, and many avocado types smell faintly of aniseed. Mango flowers come in large upright clusters at the branch tips; avocado flowers are small, greenish-yellow and very numerous.
How can I tell lychee, longan and rambutan trees apart?: All three have pinnately compound leaves, so leaves alone are a weak guide; the fruit settles it. Lychee fruit has a red, bumpy, leathery skin. Longan is smaller, round and smooth with a thin tan shell. Rambutan is covered in soft, hair-like spines. Lychee leaves usually have two to four pairs of glossy, pointed leaflets.
Which tropical fruit trees bear fruit on the trunk?: Jackfruit, cempedak, cacao, jaboticaba, bilimbi and langsat all carry fruit directly on the trunk or main branches, and durian fruits on the older, thicker branches. Seeing fruit or flowers on bare wood narrows the possibilities a great deal.
Is a photo identifier reliable for rare tropical fruit?: Less reliable than for common garden plants, because rare species have fewer reference photos. Expect the genus to be right more often than the species. Check the result against the field marks in our species guides, and add a second photo of flowers or fruit when the top results are close.
Why does it say jackfruit when my tree is cempedak?: They are close relatives in the same genus, with similar leaves and white latex, and both fruit on the trunk. The identifier can confuse them. Cempedak fruit is usually smaller and more elongated; the fruit, the smell and local knowledge are the reliable ways to separate them.

More ways to identify a plant

Free plant identifier: identify any plant from one photo.
Fruit tree identifier: Name a fruit tree from its leaves, bark, flowers or fruit, including trees with no fruit on them.
Vegetable plant identifier: Tell tomato from pepper, squash from cucumber and brassicas apart, before anything fruits.
Tree identification by leaf: Leaf arrangement, shape, margin and venation: the checklist that narrows a tree down from one leaf.
Weed or seedling?: Seed leaves versus true leaves, and how to tell a weed from the crop you sowed.

Growing more than one tree?

CanopyTwin puts every tree on a map with its species, photos and history, counts fruit from survey photos, and flags health problems. It is built for orchards, nurseries and collectors.

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