Garcinia mangostana (Mangosteen)

Native to the Malay Peninsula and Borneo, this plant is a slow-growing evergreen tropical tree that reaches about twenty to eighty-two feet tall. It is cultivated for round fruits whose thick rind ripens from pale green or yellowish tones to dark purple. Inside are four to eight segments of juicy white flesh with a sweet, slightly acidic flavor, usually eaten fresh or used in desserts. The number of fleshy segments corresponds to the lobes of the persistent stigma on the fruit’s underside. Cultivated trees can form fruits and viable seeds without pollination, although some fruits contain no developed seeds. Seed-grown trees commonly take eight to fifteen years to begin bearing. The sap has also been used to dye silk black. In Colombia, the tree is cultivated in regions including Tolima and Meta. Photographed in Mariquita, Colombia.