Cultivation
Being tropical, M. bijugatus prefers warmer temperatures. Its leaves can be damaged if the temperature hits the freezing point, with serious damage occurring below -4°C.
It is grown and cultivated for its ovoid, green fruit, which grow in bunches. The fruit, somewhat like a cross between a lychee and a lime, has a tight and thin, but rigid layer of skin, traditionally cracked by the teeth. Inside the skin is the tart, tangy, creamy pulp (technically the seed coat), which is sucked by putting the whole fruit inside the mouth (hence the name mamoncillo as mamar means "to suck") because the seed takes most of the volume of what is inside the skin. Despite the light color of the fruit's flesh, the juice stains a dark brown color, and was often used by indigenous Arawak natives to dye cloth.
The species is also commonly planted along roadsides as an ornamental tree.
Read more about this topic: Melicoccus Bijugatus
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