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Garcinia cambogioides
Indian Gamboge is a tropical tree native to southern Asia, grown mainly for its sour fruit and yellow resin (gamboge). It is a tree rather than a houseplant, so care is mostly about a warm, seasonally dry climate and a sunny site.
Garcinia cambogioides is a species of flowering plant in the family Clusiaceae. It is native to southwestern and northeastern India (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and neighboring states), Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
Ripe fruits can be eaten but they are very acidic. Just like other garcinia varieties such as kokum (which is prevalent in the Indian west coast) or garcinia pedunculata, the fruit can be preserved by slicing into thin pieces and then drying under sun. It can be made into pickles. Bodos cook the unripe fruit as vegetable with fish. A chutney can be made by boiling the fruit. In Assam, dried and preserved slices are added to black green pulses to make a popular slightly acidic curry. Dried up fruit slices are valued as a traditional remedy for dysentery. In Ayurveda the fruits are used in the treatment of dysentery, gastritis, etc. and is said to have anti inflammatory properties. When the bark is cut it exudes a yellow resin called gamboge that is used in food, paints and medicines. It can be used as a rootstock for the mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana).
Garcinia assamica · Garcinia atroviridis · Garcinia celebica · Brindal Berry · Gourka · Garcinia forbesii · Achacha · Malabar Tamarind · Hanbury's garcinia · Wild Mammee · Garcinia · Garcinia
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Garcinia cambogioides by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
