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

Blood lily (Scadoxus multiflorus)

Blood lily or Haemanthus multiflorus ( Scadoxus multiflorus ) is a species of plant in the Amaryllidaceae, a bulbous shrub that produces rhizomes. Leaves and flowers may appear together or leaves may be produced later. The base of the leaves and stems are tightly wrapped to form a pseudo-stem or false stem, 5-60 cm long. Flowers in umbels at the top of the stem, leafless, 12-75 cm long. Pseudostems and scapes are often covered with reddish brown to dark purple spots. The flower umbel is in the shape of a globe with 10-200 individual flowers. Each flower has a stalk, 15-45 mm long. The tepals and filaments of the stamens are red. The base of the tepals is fused to form a cylindrical tube, 4-26 mm long, the free end of the tepals 12-32 mm long, narrow and spreading. The fruit is a berry having a diameter of 5-10 mm. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Liliopsida Order: Asparagales Family: Amaryllidaceae Subfamily: Amaryllidoideae Tribe: Haemantheae Ge...

Guinea grass (Panicum maximum)

Guinea grass or buffalo grass or green panic ( Panicum maximum ) is a plant species in Poaceae, annual grasses, growing upright to form clumps, strong, cultivated in all tropical and subtropical regions for very high value as fodder. P. maximum reproduces in very large pols, fibrous roots penetrate into the soil, upright stems, green, 1-1.5 m tall and have smooth cavities for diameters up to 2.5 mm. Propagation is done vegetatively and generatively. Ribbon-shaped leaves with a pointed tip, very many, built in lines, green, 40-105 cm long, 10-30 mm wide, erect, branched, a white linear bone, often covered with a layer of white wax, rough surface by hair short, dense and spread. The flower grows at the end of a long and upright stalk, open with the main axis length to more than 25 cm and the length of the bunches down to 20 cm. Grains have a size of 3x4 mm and oval. Seeds have a length of 2.25-2.50 mm and each 1 kg contains 1.2 - 1.5 million seeds. Guinea grass has two varieties. P...

Indian shot (Canna indica)

Puspa midra or Indian shot ( Canna indica ) is is plant species in Cannaceae, annual, shrub 0.5-2.5 meters high, depending on variety, erect stems, unbranched and leaf midrib arranged overlapping to form pseudostems and hermaphrodite flowers. C. indica forms a branched rhizome, 60 cm long which is divided into rounded segments and is covered in two stripes by pale green or purple scaly leaves. The rhizome has tubers that contain very large starch grains. The surface has transverse furrows, the underside appears white roots and numerous shoots. The leaves sit alternate and spiral or arranged in two rows, very large and divided into a leaf midrib, short stalk and blade. The strands are 30-60 cm long, 10-20 cm wide and have linear veins, green or purple-green, the base blunt or narrowly pointed and the apex immediately tapering or sharp. Hermaphrodite flowers, pedicels 0.2-1 cm long and red or yellow-orange, except in some cultivars 4.5-7.5 cm long. The sepals are triangular in shape a...