Studies in Garcinia, dioecious tropical forest trees: the origin of the mangos teen (G. mangostana L.)

RICHARDS, A. J., 1990. Studies in Garcinia, dioecious tropical fruit trees: the origin of the mangosteen (G. mangostana L.). Mangosteen does not grow in the wild state. Plants are said to be invariable, and almost all are female. Mangosteen (2n=?88–90), an obligate agamosperm, has only two close relatives, G. hombroniana (2n= 48) and G. malaccensis (2n=?42) which are facultative agamosperms. For the 13 main characters by which they differ, mangosteen takes an intermediate morphological position for five characters, and resembles each of the other species for four of the remainder. It is suggested that mangosteen is an allopolypoid derivative of these species which arose as a female from a single hybridization event in cultivation, and which has since reproduced asexually. To overcome difficulties in propagation and establishment that mangosteen presents, attempts should be made to graft and hybridize mangosteen with its presumptive parents.