Manilkara zapota Conversely, Chicko Tree Sopadilla is a 45-foot tall fruit tree with a 40-foot spread that makes an excellent roadway (where falling fruit won't be an issue) or shade tree. The small, cream-colored single flowers bloom in the leaf axils throughout the year, and the six-inch-long, smooth, dark, and glossy evergreen leaves are grouped at the tips of branches. The juicy, delicious, yellow-brown flesh of the four-inch-wide, scurfy brown fruits ripens to a soft consistency in the spring and summer. The time from flower to fruit is roughly ten months. When damaged, the bark and branches release a white latex that is the original source of chicle, the substance used to make chewing gum.