Garcinia

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Garcinia

Garcinia is a plant

Plant

Plants are Life organisms belonging to the Kingdom Plantae. They include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae....
genus

Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
of the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
Clusiaceae

Clusiaceae

The Clusiaceae or Guttiferae Juss. is a family of plants including about 37 genera and 1610 species of trees and shrubs, often with milky sap and fruits or capsule for seeds....
native to Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
, Australia

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, tropical and southern Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
, and Polynesia

Polynesia

Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising a large grouping of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean....
. The number of species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
is highly disputed, with various sources recognizing between 50 and about 300 taxa as specifically valid. Commonly, the plants in this genus are called saptrees, mangosteens (which may also refer specifically to the Purple Mangosteen, G. mangostana), garcinias or, ambiguously, "monkey fruit
Monkey fruit

Monkey fruit can refer to some plant species in the following genera:*Artocarpus*Garcinia*''Limonia ...
".

Garcinia are evergreen
Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
tree
TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
sand shrub
Shrub

A shrub or bush is a horticulture rather than strictly Botany category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall....
s, dioecious
Dioecious

Dioecious - from Greek language for "two households" - refers to species of seed-bearing plants having separate male and female plants. That is, no individual plant of the species produces both microspores and megaspores; individual plants are either male or female ....
and in several cases apomictic.

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Encyclopedia

Garcinia is a plant
Plant

Plants are Life organisms belonging to the Kingdom Plantae. They include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae....
genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
of the family
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
Clusiaceae
Clusiaceae

The Clusiaceae or Guttiferae Juss. is a family of plants including about 37 genera and 1610 species of trees and shrubs, often with milky sap and fruits or capsule for seeds....
native to Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
, Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, tropical and southern Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
, and Polynesia
Polynesia

Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising a large grouping of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean....
. The number of species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
is highly disputed, with various sources recognizing between 50 and about 300 taxa as specifically valid. Commonly, the plants in this genus are called saptrees, mangosteens (which may also refer specifically to the Purple Mangosteen, G. mangostana), garcinias or, ambiguously, "monkey fruit
Monkey fruit

Monkey fruit can refer to some plant species in the following genera:*Artocarpus*Garcinia*''Limonia ...
".

Garcinia are evergreen
Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
tree
TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
sand shrub
Shrub

A shrub or bush is a horticulture rather than strictly Botany category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall....
s, dioecious
Dioecious

Dioecious - from Greek language for "two households" - refers to species of seed-bearing plants having separate male and female plants. That is, no individual plant of the species produces both microspores and megaspores; individual plants are either male or female ....
and in several cases apomictic. Many species are threatened due to habitat destruction
Habitat destruction

Habitat destruction is the process in which natural habitat is rendered functionally unable to support the species originally present. In this process, plants and animals which previously used the site are displaced or destroyed, reducing biodiversity....
, and at least G. cadelliana
Garcinia cadelliana

Garcinia cadelliana is a species of flowering plant in the Clusiaceae family.It is found only in India.It is threatened by habitat loss....
from South Andaman Island
South Andaman Island

South Andaman Island is the southernmost island of the Great Andaman and is home to the majority of the population of the Andaman Islands. Port Blair, the capital of the islands, is located on the southern part of this island....
is almost or even completely extinct already.

The fruit are a food source for several animals, such as the archduke butterflies
Archduke (butterfly)

The Archdukes are a genus of tropical forest-dwelling butterfly that are common throughout Southeast Asia and Australasia. Members of the brush-footed butterfly family Nymphalidae, the genus is represented by about 17 species....
(Lexias) of tropical eastern Asia which relish the sap of overripe mangosteens.

Uses
Many species of Garcinia have fruit
Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
with edible aril
Aril

An aril is any specialized outgrowth from the funiculus that covers or is attached to the seed. It is sometimes applied to any appendage or thickening of the seed coat in flowering plants, such as the edible parts of the mangosteen and pomegranate fruit, or the mace of the nutmeg seed....
s. But most are eaten locally; some species' fruits are highly esteemed in one region, but unknown just a few hundred kilometres away. The best-known species is the Purple Mangosteen (G. mangostana), which is now cultivated throughout Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India and north of Australia....
and other tropical countries, having become established in the late 20th century. Less well-known but still of international importance are Kandis (G. forbesii) with small round red fruits with subacid taste and melting flesh, the Lemon Drop Mangosteen
Lemon Drop Mangosteen

The Charichuelo fruit or Lemon Drop Mangosteen, Garcinia madruno is indigenous to the Andes where it is enjoyed and widely seen in marketplaces but not renowned....
(G. intermedia) with yellow fruit that look like a wrinkled lemon
Lemon

The lemon is the common name for Citrus limon. The reproductive tissue surrounds the seed of the angiosperm lemon tree. The lemon is used for culinary and nonculinary purposes throughout the world....
, and the thin-skinned orange Button Mangosteen
Button Mangosteen

The Button Mangosteen is also known as Cherapu. It has a flavor similar to but different from its cousin the mangosteen with an interesting taste, which some have compared to a tangerine but unlike its cousin, and its skin is tissue-thin instead of a hard rind....
(G. prainiana).

In addition, mangosteen rind (exocarp) extract is used as a spice
Spice

A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, leaf, or vegetable used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for the purpose of flavor, color, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth....
. It figures prominently in Kodava
Kodava

The Kodava are an ethnic group of southern India who trace their origins to the region of Kodagu, in Karnataka state, and natively speak Kodava Takk, although they are bilingual in Kannada....
culture, and G. multiflora is used to flavour and colour the famous bún riêu
Bún riêu

B?n ri?u is a Cuisine of Vietnam meat rice vermicelli soup. There are several varieties of b?n ri?u, including b?n ri?u cua, b?n ri?u c?, and b?n ri?u ?c....
soup of Vietnam
Vietnam

Vietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by People's Republic of China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east....
, where this plant is known as h?t di?u màu. Gambooge
Gambooge

Garcinia gummi-gutta is a subtropical species of Garcinia native to Indonesia also commonly known as Gambooge, Brindleberry, Brindall berry, Malabar tamarind, Kodumpulli , or Goraka ....
(G. gummi-gutta) yields a spice widely used in South Asia
South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east....
, in particular in Kerala
Kerala

Kerala is a Indian Union States and territories of India located in the southwestern part of India. With an Arabian Sea coastline on the west, it is bordered on the north by Karnataka and by Tamil Nadu on the south and east....
, where it is called kodumpulli.

Most species in Garcinia are known for their gum
Gum (botany)

Gum is a sap or other resinous material associated with certain species of the plant kingdom. This material is often polysaccharide based and most frequently is associated with woody plants, particularly under the bark or as a seed coating....
resin
Resin

Resin is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly Pinophyta. It is valued for its chemical constituents and uses, such as varnishes and adhesives, as an important source of raw materials for organic synthesis, or for incense and perfume....
, brownish-yellow from xanthone
Xanthone

Xanthone is an organic compound with the molecular formula C13H8O2. It can be prepared by the heating of phenyl salicylate....
s such as mangostin
Mangostin

Mangostin is a natural organic compound isolated from various parts of the mangosteen tree . It is a yellow crystalline solid with a xanthone core structure....
and used as purgative or cathartic
Cathartic

In medicine, a cathartic is a substance which accelerates defecation.This is in contrast to a laxative, which is a substance which eases defecation, usually by softening the Feces....
, but most frequently – at least in former times – as a pigment
Pigment

A pigment is a material that changes the color of light it Reflection as the result of selective color absorption. This physical process differs from fluorescence, phosphorescence, and other forms of luminescence, in which the material itself emits light....
. The colour term "gamboge
Gamboge

'Gamboge' is a rather transparent dark mustard yellow pigment.Gamboge is most often extracted by tapping resin from various species of evergreen trees of the family Guttiferae , most often of the gamboge tree , including G....
" references the Gambooge, whose obsolete scientific name is G. cambogia.

, a toxic appetite suppressant found in mangosteen rind]] Extracts of the exocarp of certain species – typically Gambooge, but also Purple Mangosteen – are often contained in appetite suppressants such as Hydroxycut
Hydroxycut

Hydroxycut is a nutritional supplement marketed by Iovate Health Sciences Inc., designed to help consumers weight loss. It is sold at conventional retailers, such as General Nutrition Centers and Wal-Mart, online retailers and through direct television marketing....
, Leptoprin
Leptoprin

Leptoprin is a dietary supplement marketed by "A.G. Waterhouse", a subsidiary of Basic Research; Salt Lake City, Utah. It was formerly known as Anorex ....
or XanGo
XanGo

XanGo, LLC, founded in 2002, is a privately owned international multi-level marketing company based in Lehi, Utah. The company markets and distributes Xango juice, a blended juice product consisting of mangosteen and other juices, which is promoted as a dietary supplement....
. But their effectiveness at normal consumption levels is unproven, while at least one case of severe acidosis
Acidosis

Acidosis is an increased acidity . If not further qualified, it usually refers to acidity of the blood plasma.Acidosis is said to occur when arterial pH falls below 7.35, while its counterpart occurs at a pH over 7.45....
caused by long-term consumption of such products has been documented. Furthermore, they may contain significant amounts of hydroxycitric acid
Hydroxycitric acid

Hydroxycitric acid is a derivative of citric acid that is found in a variety of tropical plants including Garcinia cambogia and Hibiscus subdariffa....
which is somewhat toxic and might even destroy the testicles after prolonged use. Fruit extracts from Bitter Kola (G. kola) have been claimed to be effective at stopping Ebola virus replication in laboratory tests; its seeds are used in folk medicine. G. mannii is popular as a chewstick in western Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
, freshening the breath and cleaning the teeth.

G. subelliptica, called fukugi in Japanese, is the floral emblem
Floral emblem

In a number of countries, plants have been chosen as symbols to represent specific geographic areas. Some countries have a country-wide floral emblem; others in addition have symbols representing subdivisions....
of Mobuto
Motobu, Okinawa

Motobu is a towns of Japan located in Kunigami District, Okinawa, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.As of 2003, the town has an estimated population of 14,481 and a population density of 266.69 persons per km?....
and Tarama
Tarama, Okinawa

is a villages of Japan located in Miyako District, Okinawa, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The village consists of Tarama Island and Minnajima between Ishigaki Island and Miyako Island....
on Okinawa. The Malaysia
Malaysia

Malaysia is a federation that consists of States of Malaysia in Southeast Asia with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government....
n town of Beruas
Beruas

Beruas is a small town in Perak, Malaysia....
– often spelled "Bruas" – derives its name from the Seashore Mangosteen (G. hombroniana), known locally as pokok bruas.

Selected species
(Garcinia gardneriana) fruit]] tree (Garcinia pseudoguttifera)]] (Garcinia sessilis) flowers]]
Footnotes

External links