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Garcinia mangostana
Also called Mangostan, Purple mangostan, King's Fruit, Gamboge, Purple Mangosteen
In Singapore: Mangosteen, Manggis, Mesetor, Sementah, Semetah, 山竹 (Cultivated in Singapore)
Mangosteen is a tropical evergreen tree of the Clusiaceae family, grown for its sweet, juicy edible fruit with a deep purple rind. It needs a warm, humid, frost-free climate and partial shade when young; it is usually grown from seed, which yields true-to-type seedlings.
Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana), also called mangostan or purple mangosteen, is a tropical evergreen tree growing from 6 to 25 metres (20 to 82 feet) tall. The edible endocarp of the fruit is encased in an inedible purplish rind.
The species is native to the Malay Peninsula and Borneo. It has been cultivated extensively in tropical Asia since ancient times. It is grown mainly in Southeast Asia, southwest India and other tropical areas such as Colombia, Puerto Rico, and Florida.
Mangosteen is usually propagated by seedlings. Vegetative propagation is difficult and seedlings are more robust and reach fruiting earlier than vegetatively propagated plants.
Mangosteen produces a recalcitrant seed which is not a true seed strictly defined, but rather described as a nucellar asexual embryo. As seed formation involves no sexual fertilization, the seedling is genetically identical to the mother plant. If allowed to dry, a seed dies quickly, but if soaked, seed germination takes between 14 and 21 days when the plant can be kept in a nursery for about 2 years growing in a small pot.
The endocarp – the white part of the fruit having a mild flavor – is edible, but its nutrition content is modest, as all nutrients analyzed are at a low percentage of the Daily Value, (a nutrition guide for consumers used in the US and Canada only – see table for canned fruit in syrup, USDA FoodData Central; note that nutrient values for fresh fruit are likely different, but have not been published by a reputable source).
Garcinia assamica · Garcinia atroviridis · Indian Gamboge Tree · Garcinia celebica · Brindal Berry · Gourka · Garcinia forbesii · Achacha · Malabar Tamarind · Hanbury's garcinia · Wild Mammee · Garcinia
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Mangosteen 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.
