394 MANUAL OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS 



personally by Mr. J. C. Augustus, now the Curator of the Gardens. 

 It will be of interest to know from others who have trees of any 

 definite records of the age at which they begin to bear fruit in the 

 Colony." 



A number of trees have been planted in Cuba, the Canal 

 Zone, and Porto Rico, but so far as known none of them is yet 

 fruiting. In California and Florida there appears to be little 

 hope for the mangosteen, since it is highly susceptible to frost- 

 injury. If stock-plants are discovered which will impart 

 hardiness, there is a possibility that it may yet be grown in the 

 most protected situations in southern Florida. 



The name mangosteen (in French mangoustan) is of Malayan 

 origin. Yule and Burnell derive it "from Malay manggusta 

 (Crawfurd), or manggistan (Favre), in Javanese manggis. . . . 

 This delicious fruit is known throughout the Archipelago, and in 

 Siam, by modifications of the same name." Botanically the 

 species is Garcinia Mangostana, L. 



The fruit is eaten fresh. The rind, or the entire fruit dried, 

 is used medicinally in India. It contains tannin and a crystal- 

 lizable substance known as mangostin. According to Carl 

 Wehmer 1 the fresh fruit contains sugar as follows : Saccharose 

 10.8, dextrose 1, and levulose 1.2. 



Cultivation. 



Horticultural writers have asserted that the mangosteen 

 can be grown only within four or five degrees of the equator. 

 Experience has shown that such a statement is not warranted 

 by facts. It is true that the tree is strictly tropical in its 

 requirements and that its demands in regard to soil conditions 

 are definite. There is no reason, however, to assume that it 

 will not be possible to grow mangosteens successfully through- 

 out the tropics wherever these conditions can be met. Fair- 

 child considers that the unduly limited distribution of the 

 1 Die Pflanzenstoff e. 



