Garcinia atroviridis
Family: Clusiaceae
What it is like
A tall tree. It grows up to 20 m tall. The bark is smooth and pale grey. The twigs and leaves droop down. The leaves are narrow and oblong. They can be 20-30 cm long by 6-7.5 cm wide. The leaves are red when young but turn dark green. They are glossy and leathery. The edges of the leaves turn up. The midrib is easy to see under the leaf. The leaf stalk is 2.5 cm long. Male and female flowers are separate. Male flowers occur as several together on the ends of twigs. They are uncommon. The female flowers occur singly. They are 4-5 cm wide. The sepals are green and the petals are red. The fruit are orange to yellow when ripe. They are round and about 7-10 cm across. There are 12-16 grooves from the top to bottom. The fruit stalk is 3-4 cm long. The skin is thin, smooth and bright orange-yellow. There can be none or several seeds. These are flattened and 1.5 cm long. They have a bright orange pulp around them.
There are about 300 Garcinia species. It has 9.4 mg per 100 g dry weight and 7.6 mg fresh weight of alpha-tocopherol (Vitamin E).
Where it is found
It is a tropical plant. At MARDI.
Countries/locations it is found in
Asia, Australia, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Northeastern India, Pacific, Philippines, SE Asia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand
How it is used for food
The fruit is sliced, dried and used instead of tamarind in some Malaysian dishes. It is sundried. It is used in curries, soups, fish dishes, and spicy meat dishes. The fruit are sour and need to be cooked with sugar when used in pies. Immature fruit are used in chutneys.
It is occasionally cultivated.
Edible parts
Leaves, fruit, spice
How it is grown
Its other names
Local names
Asam gelungor, Boh no, Gelugor, Nayo, Sentola tilaba, Som khaek, Sommawon, Sompha-ngun, Som mawon