Garcinia dulcis (Roxb.) Kurz

Kurz, W.S. (1874) Journal As. Soc. Beng. 43: 88. Type: India, Andaman Islands.

Gourka; Claudie Mangosteen

Tree to 20 m, seldom exceeding 30 cm dbh. Bark exudate white, slow and meagre but quite obvious, tending to emerge in layers. Blaze finely layered. Dioecious.

Petioles and twigs produce a milky exudate. Petioles 10-30 mm. Leaf blades 7.5-28 cm long x 3.2-18 cm wide; elliptic, ovate or oblong-ovate; margin recurved; secondary veins 9-14 pairs. Two sets of lateral veins running at different angles usually apparent on the underside of the leaf blade. The finer veins are actually latex canals and run at a slight angle to the midrib. Leaf stalk channelled on the upper surface and transversely wrinkled.

Male and female inflorescence similar, axillary or ramiflorous, 1-many-flowered raceme or fascicle.  Male flowers: flowers 11-12 mm diam., pedicels 7-14 mm long; sepals 5, free, orbicular, 2-4 mm long x 3-4 mm wide; petals 5, free, orbicular, 5-7 mm long x 5-7 mm wide; stamens aggregated into five narrow phalanges each consisting of 7-10 stamens; each staminal phalange 8-9 mm long, free filaments up to 1 mm long; anthers small; disk conical-attenuate. Female flowers: flowers 8-9 mm diam.; pedicels 9-17 mm long; sepals 5, free, 3-4.5 mm long, 4.5-6.5 mm wide; petals 5, free, orbicular, 7-8 mm long x 7-8 mm wide; staminodal phalanges 5,  attached among sponge-like glands; stigma 5-branched, style 1.8 mm long.

Fruits a fleshy berry, globular or depressed globular, about 35-50 long x 43-53 mm wide. Calyx lobes five, persistent. Stigma persistent. Seeds usually 5, 30 mm long x 20 mm wide; aril fleshy, cream or yellow.

First pair of leaves ovate. At the tenth leaf stage: leaves ovate, leathery, glabrous, undersurface with a fine almost parallel network of latex canals; a raised stipule or trough-like appendage between the petiole base and the stem. Seed germination time 83 to 269 days.

Widespread in CYP, and in the northern part of NEQ. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 500 m. Usually grows in well developed rain forest or gallery forest. Also occurs in New Guinea and New Britain.

Extracts of the bark of this species exhibit antimicrobial activity. (http://www.modern-natural.com/Chapter3g_May.htm)