Canistel Pouteria campechiana Baehni Pouteria campechiana var. Vitellaria campechiana Engl. It is the showiest fruit of the family Sapotaceae but generally underevaluated in horticultural literature and by those who have only a casual acquaintance with it. Slender in habit or with a spreading crown, it has brown, furrowed bark and abundant white, gummy latex.
Young branches are velvety brown.
Fragrant, bisexual flowers, solitary or in small clusters, are borne in the leaf axils or at leafless nodes on slender pedicels. The fruit, extremely variable in form and size, may be nearly round, with or without a pointed apex or curved beak, or may be somewhat oval, ovoid, or spindle-shaped. It is often bulged on one side and there is a 5-pointed calyx at the base which may be rounded or with a distinct depression. When unripe the fruit is green-skinned, hard and gummy internally. Immediately beneath the skin the yellow flesh is relatively firm and mealy with a few fine fibers.