Scientific Name: Garcinia xanthochymus Hook.f. ex T.Anderson

Synonyms: Garcinia pictorius (Roxb.) D’ Arcy , Xanthochymus pictorius Roxb. 

Unique ID: 78

Systematic Position

Class: Dicotyledonae

Sub Class: Polypetalae                       

Series: Thalamiflorae

Order: Guttiferales

Family: Clusiaceae

Common Names

English – Mysore gamboge

Malayalam – ആനവായ

Tamil –  Kulavi, Malaippachai

Hindi – Jharambi

Description: Evergreen trees, about 15-20 m tall, with a dense pyramidal crown, wood moderately hard, dark grayish brown to yellowish brown, bark dark brown or blackish brown, exfoliating in small round flakes, branches opposite, drooping, glabrous, 6-8 angular, usually dilated below nodes, latex resinous, thick, white or pale green, becoming yellow when exposed in bark and branches. Leaves simple, opposite, very variable, linear lanceolate-oblong to ovate, about 10-45 x 3-15 cm across, base cuneate to acute, margins entire, apex acute to acuminate, subrepand, coriaceous, dark green, shiny, glabrous above and paler beneath, midrib impressed above and prominent beneath, lateral veins 15-20, irregular with oblique parallel short veins between, arched and anastomising near the margins, about 6-12 mm apart, veinlets reticulate, petiole stout, thick and angular, about 1-2.5 cm long, exstipulate. Inflorescence axillary, 4-10 flowered cymes or fascicles. Flowers heterochlamydeous, dioecious, cream or white colored, about 1.5-2 cm across, pedicels slender near the base thicker toward the apex, fleshy, usually longer in female flowers, about 2-2.5 cm long, bracts red, suborbicular, bracteoles 2, about 1 mm long, sepals 5 rarely 4, imbricate, decussate in pairs, 5th sepal if present orbicular, concave, scale like petals 5, imbricate, obovate-orbicular, greenish white, clawed shortly, about 7-9 mm long. Male flowers: axillary, solitary or fascicled, yellow, stamens 15-20 in 5 bundles, alternate to fleshy glands, rudimentary pistil absent, filaments short, anthers peltate, forked near the ends, 2 loculed, dehiscing by longitudinal slits. Female flowers: axillary, few flowered, bigger than male flowers, globose, with few staminodes, filaments arranged in interrupted ring shape, ovary superior, globose-ovoid, 4 locular, greenish white, ovules erect, style short, stigma rays 5, peltate, spreading. Fruit fleshy berry, subglobose, about 6 x 7 cm across, yellow, smooth, apex pointed, tip about 2-3 mm long, encased by persistent sepals and stigma. Seeds 1-4, oblong ovoid, about 3.5 x 1.7 cm across, brown, covered with juicy pulp.

Habitat: In evergreen, semi-evergreen and moist deciduous forests, altitude 1400 m.

Distribution:  Asia; India: Eastern Himalayas, Odisha, Maharastra, Peninsular India, Andamans, Assam; Myanmar  

Uses:  Fruits are edible, also used to make juices, jams and medicines. Resin is used for dyeing, cultivated for fruits, used in folk medicine.