Status and prospects of cultivation of Garcinia species in India

Garcinia is one of the important genus of family Clusiaceae. There are more than 250 species in this genus. The trees of the genus are evergreen and medium in size. These are distributed in tropical regions, with high species diversity in South Asia and South Eastern Asia. In India, 43 species are found which are distributed in North East India, the Western Ghats and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Most of these species produces edible fruits and known for their medicinal values. Garcinia provide spice, fruit, medicine, cooking butter, colour and polishing agents for metallic surfaces such as gold and silver. The fruits of the genus contain p-hydroxycitric acid which has inhibitory effect on lipogenesis and helps in controlling obesity in human beings. Most of these species are found in wild but some are cultivated for fruits . Mangosteen, Kokum, Malabar tamarind, yellow mangosteen are some species which are cultivated in India and some region South Eastern Asian countries. The cultivation is these fruits is gaining popularity due to their unique taste and medicinal properties. The status, genetic resources, their production practices and prospects in India is summaries in this article.