Plant · P-525

Mangosteen

Garcinia mangostana

Mangosteen is a slow-growing tropical tree grown for a fruit widely rated as one of the best-tasting in the world - a thick rind peels back to reveal segments of white pulp that is aromatic, juicy and tart-sweet at once. It is exacting about climate in both directions: it dies below about 4 C and also fails above about 38 C, so it wants a narrow, ever-warm, humid band close to the equator. It bears young trees only reluctantly - first fruit can take eight to twenty years from seed - and it transplants so badly past knee height that it is normally raised where it will stand for good.