''Manilkara bidentata'' is a species of '' Manilkara'' native to a large area of northern South America, Central America and the Caribbean. Common names include bulletwood, balatá, ausubo, massaranduba, quinilla, and (ambiguously) " cow-tree".

Description

The balatá is a large

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

, growing to tall. The

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

are alternate, elliptical, entire, and long. The

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s are white, and are produced at the beginning of the rainy season. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

is a yellow berry, in diameter, which is edible; it contains one (occasionally two)

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

(s). Its

latex Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latices are found in nature, but synthetic latices are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a wikt:milky, milky fluid, which is present in 10% of all floweri ...

is used industrially for products such as chicle.

Uses

The

is extracted in the same manner in which sap is extracted from the rubber tree. It is then dried to form an inelastic rubber-like material. It is almost identical to gutta-percha (produced from a closely related

southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

n tree), and is sometimes called ''gutta-balatá''. Balatá was often used in the production of high-quality golf balls, to use as the outer layer of the ball. Balatá-covered balls have a high spin rate, but do not travel as far as most balls with a Surlyn cover. Due to the nondurable nature of the material the golf club strikes, balatá-covered balls do not last long before needing to be replaced. While once favored by professional and low-handicap players, they are now obsolete, replaced by newer Surlyn and urethane technology. In 1943,

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

used balata instead of rubber in its baseballs due to wartime rationing. The balata balls initially displayed significantly less resilience (bounce) than rubber-core balls, forcing MLB to reformulate the balata-ball design several weeks into the season. MLB resumed using rubber in 1944. Today, Brazil is the largest producer of Massaranduba wood, where it is cut in the Amazon rainforest. The tree is a

hardwood Hardwood is wood from Flowering plant, angiosperm trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostl ...

with a red heart, which is used for

furniture Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., Stool (seat), stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (table (furniture), tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furnitur ...

and as a

construction Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...

material where it grows. Locals often refer to it as bulletwood for its extremely hard wood, which is so dense that it does not float in water. Drilling is necessary to drive nailed connections. In trade, it is occasionally (and incorrectly) called " brazilwood". The fruit, like that of the related sapodilla ('' M. zapota''), is edible. Though its heartwood may present in a shade of purple, ''Manilkara bidentata'' should not be confused with another tropical tree widely known as "purpleheart", '' Peltogyne pubescens''. This timber is being used to produce outdoor furniture and is being marketed as "Pacific Jarrah" in Australia. File:Manilkara bidentata MHNT.BOT.2010.6.32.jpg, ''Manilkara bidentata'' – MHNT File:Logging Bulletwood Berbice-Guyana JK.JPG, Harvesting bulletwood in

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

File:Tropenmuseum Royal Tropical Institute Objectnumber 1336-6 Zweep van balata.jpg, A whip handle of balatá, made before 1939

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q804658 bidentata Plants described in 1807 Trees of South America Natural materials Organic polymers Rubber Elastomers