1400

 Garcinia mangostana L.

Synonym	:	Mangostana garcinia Gaertn.
Family	:	Clusiaceae
Local name	:	English- Mangosteen,Ceyloncamboge
Flowering and fruiting period	:	Flowering: September-December
Distribution	:	Asia: China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia; Africa
Distribution in Kerala	:	All districts
Habitat	:	Forested areas
Uses		The Fruit is edible, 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.The rind is astringent and has been used internally to treat dysentery, diarrhoea, cystitis and gonorrhoea. It is applied externally to treat eczema and other skin disorders. .
Key botanical characters:  Evergreen tall trees, 20-25 m tall, crown conical or pyramidal; Branchlets many, decussate, stout, cylindric, slightly grooved; Wood brick-red, heavy; bark black or dark-brown, yellow, smooth; latex yellow, sticky. Leaves simple, opposite, decussate; petioles ca. 2-2.5 cm long, stout; lamina ca. 14-25 x 5-12 cm, elliptic to elliptic-oblong, acute, obtuse or rotundate at base, acute or shortly acuminate at apex, margins thick, often slightly revolute, thickly coriaceous, purpurascent and shiny; secondary nerves 40-50 pairs, subhorizontal, numerous, prominent beneath, interarching with a double intermarginal nerve. Male flowers rare, 2-9, clustered at apex of branchlet, ca. 4 cm in diam., showy, pale green or creamy yellow; pedicels ca. 1.5-2 cm long; bracts several orbicular, concave, scarious; sepals 4, erect, unequal, coriaceous, orbicular, concave, rotund; petals 4, ovate, fleshy, yellowish-red inside, greenish-red outside; stamens indefinite, inserted on 4 thick, receptacular lobes below rudimentary pistil; filaments short; anthers ovate-oblong, recurved, bilocular, dehiscence longitudinal; rudimentary pistil discoid, fleshy, red, apex conical, as long as stamens. Female flowers ca. 4-5 cm in diam., solitary or geminate, pseudoterminal; pedicels ca. 1.8-2 cm long, stout, woody; sepals 4, ca. 2cm in diam., decussate, orbicular, concave, persistant, outer pair shorter than inner; petals 4, ca. 2.5-3 cm in diam., purple, orbicular, concave, thick, fleshy; stamens many, 1-2 seriate; anthers ovate-oblong, recurved, bilocular, dehiscence longitudinal; filaments ca. 4-5 mm long, slender, connate at base; ovary globular, 4-8 locular, smooth; ovules solitary, ascending; stigmas sessile, punctate, 5-8 lobed, lobes cuneiform. Berries ca. 7 cm in diam., dark purplish-brown, glossy, smooth, surrounded by enlarged sepals at base and crowned by hard, flat stigma, on short peduncles; pericarp thick, spongy, reddish abounding in yellow latex. Seeds 7-8, ca. 1-2 cm long, oblong, laterally compressed, with white, thick, with juicy, pleasant smelling aril.