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The Mangosteen in Hawaii 



By Vaughan MacCaughey, Professor of Botany, College of 



Hazvaii. 



Numerous requests have been received by the writer for in- 

 formation concerning the famous mangosteen and its relatives. 

 The following data has been prepared with the hope that it may 

 be of interest to your readers, as the mangosteens have a very 

 important place in tropical horticulture. 



The mangosteen, Garcinia mangostana Linn., receives its name 

 from the native Malayan mangonsta. It is a native of the East 

 Indies, and requires a hot, fairly equable climate. It is culti- 

 vated to a very limited extent in the West Indies. Innumerable 

 attempts have been made to naturalize this valuable fruit tree in 

 various parts of the tropics, but these efforts have seldom met 

 with success. 



Many trees have been brought to the Hav/aiian Islands, from 

 time to time, but have not thrived, and eventually have died. At 

 the present time there are only two trees known in these islands — 

 one on Kauai (Francis Gay), and one on Maui (Harry Turton). 

 The mangosteen is recognized as one of the most localized culti- 

 vated plants in the tropics ; its range is very small, and outside 

 of that range it is excessively rare. 



The tree is very slow-growing; 20 to 30 feet high, with a 

 symmetrical round-topped crown, conical in shape. The bark 

 and wood are long and 3 to 4 inches wide ; elliptic-oblong, entire, 

 acuminate, and leathery. They are beautiful glossy green above ; 

 olive below ; the veins are horizontal and very numerous. 



The male flowers resemble small single roses, with purple or 

 yellow-red petals; these flowers are lj/2 inches in diameter, and 

 are arranged in few-flowered terminal fascicles. The sepals are 

 orbicular; the petals are broad ovate and fleshy. 



The mangosteen fruit has been pronounced by experts to be 

 the most luscious of all tropical fruits. It is round, the size of a 

 small orange, 2^ inches in diameter, with a rind of similar 

 thickness and edible segments of form and arrangement like 

 those of an orange. The thick rind yields a very astringent juice, 

 rich in tannin, and containing a gamboge-like resin. The fruit 

 bears the persistent calyx. The rind is green at first, later becom- 

 ing brilliantly colored with rich purple, marked with gray or 

 yellow spots. It is sometimes reddish brown or chestnut. The 

 pulp is soft, juicy, snow-white or rose colored, and of inde- 

 scribably delicious flavor and perfume. There are many large 

 flat seeds. 



Although the fruit of the true mangosteen is unknown in Ha- 

 waii, its close lelative, the Yellow-fleshed Mangosteen, Garcinia 

 xanthochymus Hook, f., is quite common. This tree is native to 



