Skip to main content

Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana)

Manggis or mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana) is a tropical plant species in Clusiaceae, up to 25 m tall, thick exocarp, bright green and turns reddish purple after ripe with large seeds and edible white mesocarp layers.

G. mangostana produces sweet, pungent, watery, slightly fibrous fruits with vesicles filled with liquid, mesocarp surrounding each almond-shaped and large-sized seeds. The resulting bundle seeds are basically asexual embryos.

Dlium Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana)

Mangosteen is obligate apomixis where seeds do not originate from fertilization and are thought to have a narrow genetic diversity, It is estimated that only one clone in nature and has the same properties as its parent. Diversity may be due to environmental and genetic factors due to natural mutations in line with the history of the mangosteen.

Young fruit does not require fertilization to grow, pale green or white under the canopy. The fruit enlarges for 2 to 3 months and then turns dark green with growth in size increasing in diameter from 6-8 cm and remaining hard.

The fruit contains a variety of polyphenols including xanthones and tannins which guarantee that astringents can inhibit insects, fungi, viruses, bacteria and animal predators when the fruit is not ripe. The change in color and softening of the exocarp into a natural process that shows the fruit can be eaten and the seeds have finished developing.

Manggis thrives and produces fruit at 25-35C with a humidity of more than 80%. Temperature 38-40C makes the leaves and fruit prone to sunburn. Tree shoots prefer shade and mature shade-tolerant trees.







G. mangostana has a weak root system and prefers deep, well drained soils with high water content and often grows on river banks. Plants do not like lime soil, sandy soil, alluvial soil or sandy soil with low organic matter content.

Mangosteen trees require well-distributed rain throughout the year at least 40 mm/month and a dry season of 3-5 weeks. Sensitive to water availability. Maturation of the fruit takes 5-6 months with the harvest occurs when the purple pericarps.

The tree starts to bear fruit in 5-6 years, but it usually takes 8-10 years with 200-300 fruits/trees/season and at the age of 30-45 years will produce 3,000 fruits/trees/season. Trees will continue to produce at the age of 100 years or more.

The fruit has a delicacy and aroma that is very soft. The main volatile components that have caramel, grass and butter notes as part of the aroma of mangosteen are hexyl acetate, hexenol and α-copaene. Endocarp is the white part of the fruit with simple nutrients. Dried mangosteen can also be eaten.

Manggis is usually served as fresh fruit or processed for a variety of salads. The fruit has been used to treat skin infections, wounds, dysentery, urinary tract infections and gastrointestinal complaints.

Fruit rind extract is used as a source of natural dyes for textiles with brown, dark brown, reddish purple, mainly applied to traditional ikat weaving and batik textiles in Indonesia. Branches are chewed and wood is used to make spears and furniture.

Fruit skin contains xanthonoids such as mangostin and phytochemicals and others. Polysaccharide and xanthones compounds are found in fruit, leaves and wood core. The fully ripe fruit contains xanthones, garthanin, 8-disoxygartanin, and normangostin.

Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Clusiaceae
Genus: Garcinia
Species: G. mangostana

Popular Posts

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) manufacture bubble-nets as tools to increase prey intake

NEWS - Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) create bubble net tools while foraging, consisting of internal tangential rings, and actively control the number of rings, their size, depth and horizontal spacing between the surrounding bubbles. These structural elements of the net increase prey intake sevenfold. Researchers have known that humpback whales create “bubble nets” for hunting, but the new report shows that the animals also manipulate them in a variety of ways to maximize catches. The behavior places humpbacks among the rare animals that make and use their own tools. “Many animals use tools to help them find food, but very few actually make or modify these tools themselves,” said Lars Bejder, director of the Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP), University of Hawaii at Manoa. “Humpback whales in southeast Alaska create elaborate bubble nets to catch krill. They skillfully blow bubbles in patterns that form a web with internal rings. They actively control details such ...

Broad sword fern (Nephrolepis biserrata)

Broad sword fern ( Nephrolepis biserrata ) is a species of fern in the Nephrolepidaceae, epiphytic and terrestrial, with grayish-brown stems, brown hairs, and 10–130 cm long. The leaf blades are green, 7 cm long, 1.5 cm wide, and hairy brown on the underside. The sori are attached to the underside of the leaf blade, with about 60 sori along the edge and are brown in color. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Class: Polypodiopsida Subclass: Polypodiidae Order: Polypodiales Suborder: Polypodiineae Family: Nephrolepidaceae Genus: Nephrolepis Schott in Gen. Fil. (Vindob.): t. 3 (1834) Species: Nephrolepis biserrata (Sw.) Schott in Gen. Fil. (Vindob.): t. 3 (1834) Homotypic Synonyms Aspidium biserratum Sw. in J. Bot. (Schrader) 1800(2): 32 (1801) Hypopeltis biserrata (Sw.) Bory in C.P.Bélanger, Voy. Indes Or., Bot. 2(1): 65 (1833) Lepidoneuron biserratum (Sw.) Fée in Mém. Foug., 5. Gen. Filic.: 301 (1852) Nephrodium biserratum (Sw.) C.Presl in Reliq. Haenk. 1: 31 (1825) Nephrolepis bise...

Whipple’s Cryptantha (Cryptantha whippleae), serpentine-adapted species endemic to northern California

NEWS - Whipple’s Cryptantha ( Cryptantha whippleae ) is described as a new species from a meandering barren area in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest in Siskiyou County, California, with one outlier population in a meandering area possibly in Lake County, California. Cryptantha is a genus of perennial herbs in the Boraginaceae (Amsinckiinae) and has been non-monophyletic in several molecular phylogenetic studies. It is currently recognized with 109 species and 124 minimum-ranked taxa, of which 63 are in North America and 47 are in South America, with one taxon found on both continents. Serpentine soils, particularly in northern California, are formed from ultramafic (meta-igneous) rocks that formed millions of years ago on the seafloor. These soils are very high in heavy metals (e.g., nickel, iron, and magnesium) and low in calcium and potassium. Serpentine soils are unsuitable for plants that have not evolved to tolerate the harsh conditions. Species that adapt to serpentines have h...