Mangosteen

Mangosteen (Mangosteen), also known as scarlet mangosteen, is a tropical evergreen tree with edible fruits that originates from tropical countries surrounding the Indian Ocean.

Its origin is uncertain due to widespread prehistoric cultivation.

It grows mainly in Southeast Asia, southwest India and other tropical areas such as Colombia and Puerto Rico, where the tree has been introduced.

The tree grows from 6 to 25 metres (20 to 82 feet) tall.

The fruit of the mangosteen is sweet and tangy, juicy, somewhat fibrous, with fluid-filled vesicles (like the flesh of citrus fruits), with an inedible, deep reddish-purple colored rind (exocarp) when ripe.

In each fruit, the fragrant edible flesh that surrounds each seed is botanically endocarp, i.e., the inner layer of the ovary.

The seeds are of similar size and shape to almonds.

Mangosteen belongs to the same genus as the other, less widely known fruit, such as the button mangosteen (G. prainiana) or the charichuelo (G. madruno).