mangosteen

/mang"geuh steen'/, n.

1. the juicy, edible fruit of an East Indian tree, Garcinia mangostana.

2. the tree itself.

[1590-1600; earlier mangostan < D < Malay manggis(h)utan (dial. manggista) a variety of mangosteen (manggis mangosteen + hutan forest)]

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▪ tree

      (species Garcinia mangostana), handsome tropical tree of the family Clusiaceae, native to Southeast Asia, and its tart-sweet fruit. In Myanmar (Burma) it is called men-gu. Under favourable conditions, the slow-growing mangosteen tree can reach a height of 9.5 metres (31 feet). Individual trees have been reported to yield more than 1,000 fruits in a season.

      The tree has thick, dark green, glossy leaves, 15–25 cm (6–10 inches) long, borne in opposite pairs along the stem, and large, rose-pink flowers. The fruits are the size of a small orange, round or flattened on the ends. Mangosteens have a thick, hard, deep red rind surrounding snow-white flesh, which is in segments resembling those of a mandarin orange.

      Highly valued for its juicy, delicate texture and slightly astringent flavour, the mangosteen has been cultivated in Java, Sumatra, Indochina, and the southern Philippines from antiquity. It is a common dooryard tree in Indonesia. The mangosteen was fruited in English greenhouses in 1855, and subsequently its culture was introduced into the Western Hemisphere, where it became established in several of the West Indian islands, notably Jamaica. It was later established on the mainland in Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and Ecuador. The mangosteen generally does not prosper outside the tropics.

      Because the fruit must ripen on the tree and keeps only a short time, it is found only in local markets. Seedlings take 8 to 15 years to bear fruit. Mangosteens usually produce good crops only in alternate years.

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