Sapotaceae

Alternate, leathery leaves on trees that ooze white milky latex from any cut; small flowers with fused, often hairy sepals ripen into a fleshy berry — the latex of one member, sapodilla, was the original source of chewing-gum base (chicle).

Milky latex runs throughout the family's bark and fruit — edible once ripe in sapodilla, but historically tapped elsewhere as a natural rubber or gum substitute.

To check whether a plant belongs to Sapotaceae, compare the leaf arrangement, leaf type, flower symmetry, fruit type, and one distinctive marker together. A single feature can mislead; the family pattern is the combination.