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MANGOSTEEN. A beautiful, delicious, and almost legendary fruit of tropical southeast Asia, produced by a handsome tree (Garcinia mangostana, of the family Guttiferae) which under favorable conditions reaches a height of about 35 feet. It has thick dark green glossy leaves six to ten inches long; the flowers are large, polygamous (on the same tree some are staminate, i.e., male, while others are pistillate or female); the fruits are about three inches in diameter, round to oblate in form, and dark purple in colour. They have thick hard rinds surrounding a large cavity in which lie several segments of snow-white to pinkish flesh, somewhat resembling those of a mandarin orange in appearance, juicy, delicate in texture, and of delightful acidulous flavour, comparable to that of no other fruit. Since the days of the early voyagers unstinted praise has been heaped upon this "Queen of tropical fruits, the Prize of the Indies".

In spite of the fact that the mangosteen is so highly valued, and that its cultivation in such regions as Java, Sumatra, Indo-China and the southern Philippines dates from very early times, the tree has nowhere been planted on an extensive scale, in part because mangosteens are difficult to ship very long distances. It was introduced into the western hemisphere in the nineteenth century, where it became established in several of the West Indian islands; somewhat later on the mainland, as (for example) in Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Ecuador. It has not proved well adapted to the climates of California and Florida, but has been grown successfully in Hawaii.

For best results the mangosteen needs a rich deep soil and a moist strictly tropical climate, but it has been grown successfully under less ideal conditions, though not where temperatures often go below about 40 degrees F. Propagation is by seeds, which do not long retain their viability. Grafting has not proved very successful nor does it seem to be required, since the embryos which give rise to young plants are not derived from fertilized ovules; they develop from tissues surrounding the ovary, hence are of vegetative origin and produce trees which are as much alike as grafted ones.

Occasional trees produce as many as 500 to 600 fruits in a good season; there is a tendency to produce good crops in alternate years.