Garcinia dulcis (Roxb.) Kurz

Family

Guttiferae

Synonyms

None

Vernacular Names

Geographical Distributions

Garcinia dulcis is native to the Philippines and Indonesia (Java, Kalimantan). It is also cultivated in other Southeast Asian countries and rarely outside the area.

Description

G. dulcis is a tree that can reach up to 13 m tall with a short trunk and brown bark, white latex but turns pale brown on exposure while latex in fruits are yellow. The twigs are thick, four-angled and usually with finely hairy.

The leaves are ovate to oblong-elliptic, measuring 10-30 cm x 3.5-14 cm, pale green when young, dark green and shiny above and often hairy on underside. The midrib is prominent, with numerous veinlets, parallel and short. The petiole is thick and measures up to 2 cm long.

The flowers are an axillary, yellow-white, sour smell and with 5-merous. The male flowers are in small clusters, very small and measure about 6 mm wide while the female flowers are 12 mm wide, with a pedicel 1.5-3 cm long and with 5-lobed stigma.

The fruits are spherical, measure 5-8 cm wide, slightly pointed, often rather compressed and crowned by the persistent stigma. The skin is thin, soft and light yellow.

There are 1-5 brown seeds, measure about 2.5 cm long and surrounded by a pale yellow pulp.

Ecology / Cultivation

Wild Garcinia species are second-storey forest trees, adapted to shade and mostly in the humid tropics of Southeast Asia.

Line Drawing / Photograph

References

1. Plant Resources of South-East Asia No. 2: Edible fruits and nuts.