Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/113

MANGOSTEEN MANGROVE 105 me-celled, with a curved style; the fruit is 3 in. or more long, ovate, and very va- iable in shape and color ; it is at first green, id then becomes partly or wholly orange- )lored ; beneath the skin there is in the better arieties a rich delicious pulp, in the centre of rhich is a large stone, to which the inner por- ion of the pulp is attached by coarse fibres, Mango (Mangifera Indica). something after the manner of a clingstone peach. The largest varieties weigh two pounds, but the fruit is usually not larger than a goose egg. In its fresh state the fruit is much prized by the inhabitants of tropical countries, and it is sometimes offered in a very poor con- dition in our seaport cities. It is sent from the West Indies in the form of a sweetmeat, but in that state it is simply sweet and fla- vorless. The green fruit, pickled and highly spiced, is imported into England from the East Indies ; an imitation of this pickle, called man- goes, is made of green melons stuffed with aro- matics. Some of the varieties are not edible on account of their strong flavor of turpentine, and being very stringy also, one writer com- pares them to " a mixture of tow and turpen- tine." The tree is sometimes cultivated under glass as a curiosity. The wood is used together with sandalwood by the Hindoos in burning their dead ; the bark possesses astringent prop- erties, and the tree when wounded exudes a gum resin which is also astringent. The na- tives of India are said to make use of the as- tringent leaves and leaf stalks of the mango to harden the gums, and they also employ them remedial agents in other ways. The seeds are said to possess anthehnintic properties, and when boiled are eaten in times of scarcity. MANGOSTEEN (Malay, mangostana ; Garci- nia mangostana), a tree growing with an up- right stem to the height of 20 ft., and bearing a very beautiful and eatable berry, esteemed the most delicious of East Indian fruits. The genus Garcinia, of which there are over 30 species, belongs to the natural order guttiferce, which contains trees that are natives of the hottest parts of the world, and characterized by thick, entire, opposite leaves and resinous juices. Several species of Garcinia furnish a portion of the gamboge of commerce. In the mangosteen the leaves are about 7 or 8 in. long, and about half as much in breadth at the middle, gradually tapering at both ends, of a shining green above, but of an olive color beneath. The flower resembles a single rose, composed of four roundish petals, of a dark red color, which are thick at the base, but thin- ner toward the margins. The fruit is about the size and shape of an orange, and is crowned by a broad peltate-lobed stigma ; the rind is like that of the pomegranate, but softer,- thick- er, and fuller of juice ; it is green at first, but changes to a dark brown with some yellowish spots; the inside is white or of a rose col- or, and is divided into several cells by thin partitions, in which the seeds are lodged, sur- rounded by a soft, juicy pulp, of a delicious fla- vor partaking of the strawberry and the grape ; one writer describes its qualities as " utterly inexpressible." It can be eaten in great quan- tities without any inconvenience, and it is the only fruit which sick people in India are al- lowed to eat without scruple. It is said that Solander, when in the last stage of a putrid fever at Batavia, found great benefit from sucking this delicious and refreshing fruit. The pulp has a most happy mixture of the tart and the sweet, and is no less salutary than pleasant. The dried bark of the Garcinia is Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana). astringent, and has been used in dysentery and in infusion as a gargle for sore mouth ; the Chinese employ it for dyeing black. The sev- eral species are beautiful stove plants. MANGROVE, a common name for three or four tropical plants, but mainly applied to species of rhizophora (Gr. /W'C, a root, and , to bear), a genus so called on account