Manilkara gonavensis is a tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

 species in the Sapodilla family

Sapotaceae

Sapotaceae is a family of flowering plants, belonging to order Ericales. The family includes approximately 800 species of evergreen trees and shrubs in approximately 65 genera . Distribution is pantropical....

, found nowhere else but Haiti

Haiti

Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

. It has only ever been collected one time for study, when the type specimen was taken. This was in the early 20th century, before 1929, which is the year it was described (the year of a plant's collection often predates its description by years, sometimes even decades). Consequently very little is known about M. gonavensis, and further study is needed. The specimen was taken from Haiti's Gonâve Island

Gonâve Island

Gonâve Island is an island of Haiti located to the west-northwest of Port-au-Prince in the Gulf of Gonâve. It is the largest of the Hispaniolan satellite islands, situated off the mainland...

, which is reflected in the choice of its specific epithet.