Mango Mania! Don't Mangle Your Mango!

Do your hands itch when you peel and eat a mango?

It may be because you are highly sensitive to the urashiol that naturally occurs in mango tree sap, leaves, flowers, and fruit skins. The medical name for this allergic sensitivity is Toxicodendron Dermatitis or urushiol-induced contact dermatitis. The presence of urashiol in the mango tree's sap is why mango wood should never be used in fireplaces or for cooking fuel, as its smoke will irritate eyes and respiratory systems. Also, when mango trees are flowering, some folks will experience an allergic reaction with their eyes itching, face swelling, and respiratory problems--even when there's no airborne pollen.
 
What is urashiol? The name originates from the Japanese word "urushi"--for a type of lacquer derived from the sap of kiurushi trees (Lacquer Tree). It's the same irritating stuff that makes poison ivy, poison sumac, and poison oak so nasty.  In fact, the mango tree, Mangifera indica L., is in the same family of flowering plants--the Anacardiaceae--that include plants such as poison ivy, poison sumac, and poison oak (Also included in this family of trees are cashews and pistachios--although sometimes pistachios are placed in their own family, the Pistaciaceae).  Technically, the fruit from this family of trees are called "Drupes". (Other "drupes" include peaches, apricots, nectarines, avacados, and coconuts--but that's another story!)

But hey, mangos TASTE GOOD! And they are high in vitamins and bioflavinoids and other substances that are healthful for you!

Mango flowers are pollinated by fruit bats, flies, wasps, wild bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, ants and various bugs that feed upon the nectar. Also, some amount of self-pollination also occurs.

Mangos are native to southern Asia, especially Burma and eastern India. through population migrations and intertribal trade, it spread early on to Malaya, eastern Asia, and eastern Africa. Mangos were introduced to California (Santa Barbara) in 1880.