Common Name: Mangosteen

General Information

Garcinia mangostana is a very slow-growing evergreen tree with a pyramidal crown. It can grow up to 25 metres tall, but is usually much smaller, especially in cultivation. The straight, cylindrical bole can be up to 37cm in diameter[, , , ].
The edible fruit is considered to be one of the tastiest fruits in existence[]. The trees are widely cultivated in the gardens of the Indonesia and Malaysia for their edible fruits. They are difficult to establish outside their native range and so are seldom grown commercially[]. Trees are being grown in commercial orchards in Brazil[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

,

Range

E. Asia - Malaysia.

Habitat

The tree is mostly known from cultivation, but is also probably wild on hillsides and ridges in undisturbed mixed dipterocarp forests at elevations up to 200 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	12.00 m
Growth Rate	Slow
Self-fertile	Yes
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

The mangosteen is an ultra-tropical plant, usually only grown in areas without a dry season and within 10 degrees of the equator. It is usually grown from sea level up to 1,000 metres elevation, but the growth rate is higher in lowland areas[, ]. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 20 - 30°c, but can tolerate 15 - 40°c[]. It cannot tolerate temperatures below 4°c, nor above 38°c[]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 1,600 - 2,000mm, but tolerates 1,100 - 2,800mm[].
Succeeds in full sun and in light shade[]. Requires a good, deep, rich organic soil that retains moisture but is also well-drained[]. Grows best in a fertile clay with good drainage[]. Prefers an acid soil[]. Prefers a pH in the range 5 - 6, tolerating 4.3 - 7.5[]. Plants are intolerant of drought[]. The mangosteen must be sheltered from strong winds and salt spray[].
It takes at least 8 years before a tree commences bearing fruit, but yields of 200 - 1,500 fruits per tree have been recorded from mature specimens[]. In cooler climates it can take 15 - 20 years for plants to produce their first fruit from seed[].
Trees produce an economical yield of fruit for about 50 years[].
Stress should be avoided; a tree which is visibly suffering seldom recovers[].
Plants resent root disturbance[].
Only female forms of this plant are known, but they are able to produce fruit without fertilization[].
There are some named forms[].
The plants grow very well when banana plants are grown around them to provide wind shelter and plenty of mulch material[].
Some of the most fruitful mangosteen trees grow on the banks of streams, lakes, ponds or canals where the roots are almost constantly wet. However, dry weather just before blooming time and during flowering induces a good fruit-set[].

Edible Uses

Fruit - raw. The white fruit is delicious[]. The fruit is aromatic, juicy, with a texture so soft it almost melts in the mouth and a sweet, delicate flavour[]. About the size of an apple, the skin can be removed to reveal about 6 kernels of white pulp with a flavour that is tart and sweet, like a cross between grapes and strawberries. The fruit is a globose berry 34 - 75mm in diameter[].
The best table fruits are those with the highest number of stigma lobes at the apex, for these have the highest number of fleshy segments and the fewest seeds[].

Seed - occasionally eaten after boiling or roasting[]. They add a delicious nutty flavour to preserves when cooked with the pulp[].

Medicinal

The rind of the fruit is astringent and has been used internally to treat dysentery, diarrhoea, cystitis and gonorrhoea[, ].
The rind is applied externally to treat eczema and other skin disorders[].

The rind of partially ripe fruits yields a polyhydroxy-xanthone derivative termed mangostin, also ß-mangostin. That of fully ripe fruits contains the xanthones, gartanin, 8-disoxygartanin, and normangostin. A derivative of mangostin, mangostin-e, 6-di-O-glucoside, is a central nervous system depressant and causes a rise in blood pressure[]

A decoction of the leaves and bark is used as an astringent, febrifuge and to treat thrush, diarrhoea, dysentery and urinary disorders[, ].

A bark extract called 'amibiasine', has been marketed for the treatment of amoebic dysentery[]

An infusion of the leaves, combined with unripe banana and a little benzoin, is applied to the circumcision wound[].

A root decoction is taken to regulate menstruation[].

Other Uses

The fruit rind is a source of tannins[]. It contains 7 - 14% catechin tannin and rosin[].
The tannins can be used as a black dye[, ].

Various parts of the plant are used as ingredients in commercial cosmetic preparations. The seed oil, bark and fruit extracts are all used as skin conditioners; The dried and powdered fruit skin is used as an abrasive and is also antioxidant, hair conditioner and skin conditioner; and the fruit juice is antioxidant and skin conditioner[].

The twigs are used as chewsticks[].

The fruit hulls show anti-fungal and anti-protozoal activity[].

The dark-brown wood is strong; heavy to the point that it almost sinks in water; and is moderately durable[, ]. Usually only available in small sizes, it has been used in construction and cabinetwork, to make handles for spears and rice pounders[, ].

Propagation

Seed. - it has a very short viability and should be sown as soon as it is ripe[]. Technically, the so-called 'seeds' are not true seeds but adventitious embryos, or hypocotyl tubercles; there has been no sexual fertilization[]. When growth begins, a shoot emerges from one end of the seed and a root from the other end. But this root is short-lived and is replaced by roots which develop at the base of the shoot. The process of reproduction being vegetative, there is naturally little variation in the resulting trees and their fruits[]. Some of the seeds are polyembryonic, producing more than one shoot. The individual nucellar embryos can be separated, if desired, before planting[]. The percentage of germination is directly related to the weight of the seed, only plump, fully developed seeds should be chosen for planting[].
Because of the long, delicate taproot and poor lateral root development, transplanting is notoriously difficult. It must not be attempted after the plants reach 60cm[]. At that time the depth of the taproot may exceed the height of the plant[]. There is greater seedling survival if seeds are planted directly in the nursery row than if first grown in containers and then transplanted to the nursery[]. The nursery soil should be 1 metre deep, at least. The young plants take 2 years or more to reach a height of 30cm, when they can be taken up with a deep ball of earth and set out[].
Seeds are recalcitrant and should be stored in their fruit at room temperature, or in moist peat moss, even these will lose viability in 5 days after removal from the fruit, though they are viable for 3 - 5 weeks in the fruit. Viability can be maintained for 1 - 2 months in moist storage at 20°c, storage temperature of 10°c is damaging[].
Cuttings of greenwood.
Budding on to seedlings[].

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