Bark
The bark is black, smooth, becomes dark grey, rough, and deeply furrowed on maturity.
Syn. Garcinia malabarica
The bark is black, smooth, becomes dark grey, rough, and deeply furrowed on maturity.
Leaves are oblong and glossy.
The male flowers are formed in 3-5 flowered cymes in leaf axils. Female flowers are solitary, 4-parted, with 4 styles, and an 8-celled ovary.
Fruits are round, up to 3.5 cm in diameter, and seated on a persistent sepal structure. The fruit is green, tinted red.
Sticky juice from unripe fruits was traditionally used as black dye, fishing-net tanning agent, and waterproof boat adhesive. In ancient ayurvedic texts called Nighantus, its bark is described as being useful when applied externally to boils, swellings, and tumours.
Tropical Asia, Trinidad-Tobago