Manggis is a tropical
evergreen tree from the family Clusiaceae, formerly known as Guttiferae, which
also include about 37 genera. The genus Garcinia has at least another 50 species.
Young
manggis fruits are white in
colour. As the fruits mature, they turn
into green and finally dark purple when ripened. By then, the fruits have grown up to 8cm in
diameter, capped by a prominent green calyx, with a flat remnants of the stigma
in a rosette at the bottom. The rosette
are supposedly correspond to the number of the aril sections. The skin ( exocarp ) is hard, but easily
squeeze-open. The rind is about 10cm
thick, spongy and reddish in colour.
Edible
arils are white, 4 – 8 segments, wedge-shaped, soft, sourly to sweet, mildly
aromatic and fleshy. Most seeds are infertile,
with only 2 or 3 fully developed recalcitrant seeds. The seeds must be kept moist to remain viable
until germination. It is interesting to
know that the seeds are nucellar in origin, and not of the result of fertilization.
