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Garcinia gummi-gutta (L.) Robs.

Synonym:  Cambogia gummi-gutta L., Garcinia cambogia (Gaertn.) Desr.

CLUSIACEAE

Local Names : കൊടംപുളി, Malabar Gamboge.

Flowering Period : January to September.

Distribution : South India and Sri Lanka

Uses:  Fruits edible, Ayurvedic.

Exotic : No.

Evergreen trees, bark black, rough. Leaves simple, opposite, decussate, margin entire, shining. Flowers polygamodioecious, yellowish-white; male flowers: 3-5 in short axillary fascicles; sepals 4, fleshy, ovate, outer 2 smaller than inner; petals 4, twice as long as the petals; stamens 10-20 or more, monadelphous, forming a globular head; rudimentary pistil absent; female flowers: 1-3 in terminal and axillary fascicles, larger than male flowers; sepals and petals as in male; staminodes 10-20; ovary superior. Fruit a berry, ovoid to subglobose, yellow or red, 8-10 grooved.

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