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ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE MANGOSTEEN AND OTHER 
NEARLY ALLIED SPECIES, AS FRUIT-TREES. 
The Mangosteen is the Garcinia Mangostana of botanists, and is a native of 
the Straits of Malacca, but is now cultivated in various parts of the East Indies, and 
in Java, as well as in its native country. It forms a tree about twenty feet high, with 
numerous branches which are placed opposite to each other. The leaves are 
elliptic-oblong, entire, acuminated, seven or eight inches long, and about three 
broad in the middle, but tapering off towards each end ; shining green above, dull 
olive beneath. The flowers are terminal, solitary, and resemble a single rose. The 
calyx is bractless, and consists of four permanent sepals. The petals are four, 
roundish, thick at the base, but thinner towards the margins ; of a dark red. 
Stamens twelve to twenty-five, deciduous ; filaments short. Anthers adnate, two- 
celled, bursting lengthwise behind. Style short, crowned by a six or eight-lobed 
stigma. Fruit fleshy, eight-celled. Cells one-seeded. It resembles a middle-sized 
orange, is filled with a sweet and most delightful pulp, and is esteemed in the 
countries where it is cultivated, as the finest fruit that can be eaten. The rind is 
not unlike that of the pomegranate ; the fruit is crowned with the lobed stigma^ 
and the flavour may be likened to that of the strawberry and grape combined. The 
inside is of a fine rose-colour, and divided into several cells by thin partitions, 
much in the same manner as in an orange. 
The plant was introduced to this country so long ago as 1789 ; but as it required 
a strong heat, the apparatus for supplying heat in those days being very defective, 
and in consequence never flowering, the plant was only retained in a few old collec- 
tions as curious, but of very little value. 
In the countries where it is cultivated, the trees assume a fine form; their 
spreading branches and long shining leaves give them a very ornamental character, 
and they also afford a good shade from the scorching rays of the sun. 
In cultivation it requires a light loamy soil, mixed with a little turfy peat, and 
very rotten dung, if grown in a tub ; but if planted out in the border of a stove, good 
turfy loam, without any admixture, is the best. 
The temperature for its growth and fruiting should be a good, strong, and moist 
stove-heat, and its roots should have access to a little bottom warmth, but not in a 
sufficient degree to parch and dry the soil. In respect to temperature it will not 
associate with Jambosa vulgaris, Anona Cherimolia, Spondias lutea, or Euphoria 
Litchi, all which require a house with a moderate heat, and plenty of exposure to the 
air. The Mangosteen, on the contrary, should be grown along with Jambosa 
Malaccensis, Mangifera Indica, and some others, which only produce freely under 
strong excitement. 
Good drainage is essential to the plants wherever they are grown ; for although 
