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Garcinia madruno
Also called Charichuela
Garcinia madruno, the charichuela or wild pomme rose, is a fruiting tree from lowland and montane rainforests of Central and South America. It is grown for its citrusy white fruit and does best in a warm, frost-free tropical climate.
Garcinia madruno, the charichuela, is a fruit-producing tree species from the lowland and montane rainforests of Central and South America. It ranges from Honduras to Trinidad, Paraguay, and northeastern Brazil. The leaves are dark green and leathery. The fruit looks like a shriveled droopy lemon and has a similar rind, so is sometimes called a lemon drop mangosteen. The interior is soft white pulp and has a popular, slightly citrusy taste people have compared to a sweet santol fruit or lemony cotton candy.
The species was first described as Calophyllum madruno by Carl Sigismund Kunth in 1822. In 1989 Barry Edward Hammel placed the species in genus Garcinia as G. madruno. The species was formerly included in the genus Rheedia, which has since been absorbed into Garcinia, as Rheedia species are now known as "new world mangosteens".
Garcinia madruno is well adapted to a wide variety of soils, tolerating even poor soils or heavy clay. It is a slow grower and takes about 5 to 7 years to fruit. When young, it must be protected from frosts and it will not fruit in cold areas.
The fruit is not very well known outside of South America and a few backyard growers in South Florida.
Garcinia acuminata · Garcinia acutifolia · Bitter Kola · Garcinia aristata · Garcinia assamica · Garcinia atroviridis · Garcinia benthamiana · Garcinia bifasciculata · Garcinia binucao · Garcinia brasiliensis · Garcinia brassii · Garcinia brevirostris
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Garcinia madruno 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.
