Garcinia pictoria
(Roxb.) D'Arcy
Cochin gorka
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Wikimedia Commons - Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz
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Wikimedia Commons - Dinesh Valke from Thane, India
Description
Garcinia pictoria is a tropical tree with yellow, juicy fruit.
This description is brief — help expand it
Edible Uses
An oil obtained from the seeds is used as substitute for ghee in cooking. The globose fruit is a fleshy berry 20 - 25mm x 15 - 20mm across, containing 4 large, kidney-shaped seeds that are covered with juicy pulp. We have seen no reports on edibility.
Distribution
A tropical plant.
Where It Grows
Asia, Indochina,
Cultivation
A dioecious species, both male and female forms must usually be grown if fruit and seed are required. At least some dioecious Garcinia species, however, are able to produce fertile seed even in the absence of fertilization (asexual reproduction). Such seeds would be expected to be genetically identical to the parent
Other Uses
A resinous, thick yellow latex is obtained from the bark, branches and fruits. An excellent gamboge, which is obtained either by scraping off ihe dead outer bark and then pricking the stem and collecting the small tears which exude, or by stripping the bark, pounding it, and boiling. An excellent yellow pigment is obtained from the fruit. It is used for dyeing cloth, as a colouring in paints, inks etc. Gamboge is a gum-resin which is obtained from the bark, branches and fruits of several species in the genus Garcinia. It contains around 70 - 80% resin with 15 - 25% gum and is used primarily as a pigment, being used to dye cloth (the yellow silken robes of Buddhist monks are often dyed with it), as well as supplying a golden-yellow colouring to varnishes, lacquers, paints, ink, water colours etc. The seed oil is used as a fuel for lamps. Wood - moderately hard. A good timber.
Notes
An unresolved name in The Plant List.
Synonyms
References (2)
- Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 67:998. 1980 "pictorius" (non Roxb. 1832) - an illegitimate later homonym (ICBN Art. 53) that is unavailable for use
- Facciola, S., 1998, Cornucopia 2: a Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, p 79
