Mangosteen

Mangosteen, Garcinia mangostana, also called mangostan or purple mangosteen, is a tropical evergreen tree. The edible endocarp of the fruit is encased in an inedible purplish rind. The species is native to the Malay Peninsula and Borneo, and has been cultivated extensively in tropical Asia since ancient times. The fruit is sweet and tangy, juicy and somewhat fibrous, with a deep reddish-purple rind when ripe, and the fragrant edible flesh around each seed is the endocarp, the inner layer of the ovary. The cultivated mangosteen is dioecious, but male trees are unknown, and the trees produce viable seeds by apomixis, so all the embryos are essentially clones of the mother. Various parts of the plant have a history of use in traditional medicine, mostly in Southeast Asia, and it may have been used to treat skin infections, wounds, dysentery, urinary tract infections and gastrointestinal complaints, although there is no high-quality clinical evidence for any of these effects.