Mangosteen (මැංගුස්)

Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana), also known as the purple mangosteen, is a tropical evergreen tree with edible fruit native to Island Southeast Asia. Its exact origins are unknown due to its widespread cultivation since ancient times, but it is believed to have been somewhere between the Sunda Islands and the Moluccas. It grows mainly in Southeast Asia, southwest India and other tropical areas such as Colombia, Puerto Rico and Florida, where the tree has been introduced. The tree grows from 6 to 25 m (19.7 to 82.0 ft) tall. The fruit of the mangosteen is sweet and tangy, juicy, somewhat fibrous, fluid-filled vesicles (like the flesh of citrus fruits), with an inedible, deep reddish-purple colored rind (exocarp) when ripe.In each fruit, the fragrant edible flesh that surrounds each seed is botanically endocarp, i.e., the inner layer of the ovary.[5][6] Seeds are almond-shaped and -sized.

Flower : Male flowers rare. Hermaphrodite flowers 1-2 in the axils of the upper leaves, up to 4 cm diameter; pedicels stout, up to 2 cm long; sepals 4 (rarely 5); petals 4 , up to 3 cm long.

Fruit : Fruit globose, glossy purplish-black, up to 10 cm diameter, the enlarged sepals at the base. Pericarp thick, spongy reddish, with yellow latex.

Seeds : Seeds enveloped in an opaque very pleasant, thick, white arilode.

Ayurvedic usage : Diabetes mellitus, Urinary tract diseases

Height : 6 to 25 m (19.7 to 82.0 ft)

Leaves : Leaves thickly coriaceous; 6 x 15-12 x 25 cm; petioles 2-2.5 cm long.