The year is off to a good start for the members of the scientific community who research mangaba (Hancornia speciosa Gomes). Bioversity International (Rome, Italy), in partnership with Embrapa, has just published the manual "Descriptors for Mangaba". The publication is authored by researchers Josué Francisco da Silva Júnior, Ana Veruska Cruz da Silva Muniz, Ana da Silva Lédo, from Embrapa Coastal Tablelands (Aracaju, SE); Maria Clideana Cabral Maia, from Embrapa Tropical Agroindustry (Fortaleza, CE); Mariana Aparecida Carvalhaes, from Embrapa Mid-North (Teresina, PI); Sandra Mascimo da Costa e Silva, from Universidade Católica de Goiás; Ehsan Dulloo, from Bioversity International; and Adriana Alercia, from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Bioversity International, one of the 15 research centers that comprise the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), global organization for agricultural development and biodiversity conservation and use, on behalf of people's food and nutritional security. The work is part of the series Bioversity Descriptors, which is edited by the institution, and is the second publication of the kind elaborated in partnership with Embrapa (the first one was also about a native fruit tree, butiá or jelly palm, in 2015). The manual can be downloaded from Bioversity's website, clicking here, or the CGIAR system's, on this link. The book is the result of many years of work, including stages from planning to knowledge exchange and the joint definition of descriptors by Brazilian and foreign experts. It represents a significant advance for mangaba tree genetic resources and should henceforth guide and standardize research involving the characterization and the assessment of the species, which is widely spread in the Brazilian territory but also occurs in Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru. Descriptors Descriptors are parameters employed to define species' genetic and environmental patterns that help researchers, students and field agents recognize them based on the traits present in the plants and in the environment. They are fundamental to systematize conservation protocols in gene banks around the world. The list of descriptors standardized by Bioversity International encompasses information on the species' Passport (general and basic information to record and establish the bank's accessions), Environmental Management (foundation for the management of the bank's accessions and for multiplication and regeneration standards), Characterization (describes phenotypic and hereditary traits) and Assessment (more technical and specific traits that may require agronomic, cell and molecular studies), and it was elaborated pursuant to international standards, with the purpose of uniformizing the "language" for the conservation of genetic resources of mangaba tree and of other catalogued species. “The publication was only possible due to intermediation by the researcher Adriana Alercia, currently at FAO's International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (TIRFAA), who has spared no efforts towards making it a reality”, Josué Francisco acknowledges. Embrapa Coastal Tablelands has strongly invested in research involving ex situ and in situ conservation (within and outside the native species' zone of occurrence, respectively) of mangaba with significant results in the last decade. Some examples of that are the establishment of the Mangaba Germplasm Bank, the depository of the species in the country, and the development of strategies for genetic resource conservation with the participation of traditional communities, which have already resulted in important public policy for the sake of the species and of the population”, asserts Josué, who is the curator for Embrapa's Mangaba Germplasm Bank. Translation: Mariana Medeiros