Garcinia talbotii
Raizada ex Santapau in Rec. Bot. Surv. India (ed. 2).16: 14. 1960. G. ovalifolius (Roxb.) Hook. f. var. macrantha Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 269. 1874. G. spicata (Wight & Arn.) Hook.f. var.macrantha Vesque in DC., Monogr. Phan. 8: 311.
1893. G. malabarica Talbot in J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 11: 234. 1897, non Desr. 1792. Xanthochymus ovalifolius Graham, Cat. Pl. Bombay 26. 1839, non Roxb. 1832.
Kan.: Haldi, Ont; Mar.: Limboti, Pansara, Tavir.
Trees 6 - 15 m tall, straight, dioecious; branches twiggy, sulcate or angular, dilated at nodes; latex turning brownish, sticky. Leaves 7 - 18 x 4 - 10 cm, elliptic-oblong or ovate, obtuse or retuse, rounded at base, coriaceous, dark green, shiny, lateral veins 16 - 18 or more, distinct, anastamosing; petioles 12 - 18 mm long, rugose, dilated above base. Inflorescences congested, numerous, often on old wood. Flowers creamy-white, white to greenish-yellow on thick peduncles, usually 1.8 - 2.7 cm in diam., pedicels 5 - 12 mm long; bracteoles many, minute at the base of pedicels. Sepals 5, orbicular, concave, ca 3 mm across, green. Petals 5, white, ca 9 - 10 mm across; orbicular, concave, sometimes suborbicular, 5 - 6 mm broad. Male flowers: stamens in 5 phalanges, thick, equalling and opposite to petals, surrounded at base by and springing from a lobed and plaited, thick, fleshy disc; anthers 8 - 12 in each phalange, didymous, reddish; free part of filaments short, stout. Rudimentary pistil absent. Female flowers: staminodes in 5, thin, flattened phalanges surrounding the ovary with a disc, similar to male flowers, anthers 4 - 5 on each phalange, flat, didymous on long free filaments. Ovary globose, 3 - 4-locular; stigmatic lobes 3, thick, spreading. Berries ca 4 - 6 cm in diam., broadly oblong, yellow, with abundant yellow latex.
Fl. & Fr. Nov. - May
Distrib. India: In evergreen forests of Western Ghats: Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Endemic.
Notes. The fruits yield an inferior quality of yellow gutta-gum. Dried fruits are used like tamarind in curries.
Trees 6 - 15 m tall, straight, dioecious; branches twiggy, sulcate or angular, dilated at nodes; latex turning brownish, sticky. Leaves 7 - 18 x 4 - 10 cm, elliptic-oblong or ovate, obtuse or retuse, rounded at base, coriaceous, dark green, shiny, lateral veins 16 - 18 or more, distinct, anastamosing; petioles 12 - 18 mm long, rugose, dilated above base. Inflorescences congested, numerous, often on old wood. Flowers creamy-white, white to greenish-yellow on thick peduncles, usually 1.8 - 2.7 cm in diam., pedicels 5 - 12 mm long; bracteoles many, minute at the base of pedicels. Sepals 5, orbicular, concave, ca 3 mm across, green. Petals 5, white, ca 9 - 10 mm across; orbicular, concave, sometimes suborbicular, 5 - 6 mm broad. Male flowers: stamens in 5 phalanges, thick, equalling and opposite to petals, surrounded at base by and springing from a lobed and plaited, thick, fleshy disc; anthers 8 - 12 in each phalange, didymous, reddish; free part of filaments short, stout. Rudimentary pistil absent. Female flowers: staminodes in 5, thin, flattened phalanges surrounding the ovary with a disc, similar to male flowers, anthers 4 - 5 on each phalange, flat, didymous on long free filaments. Ovary globose, 3 - 4-locular; stigmatic lobes 3, thick, spreading. Berries ca 4 - 6 cm in diam., broadly oblong, yellow, with abundant yellow latex.
Fl. & Fr. Nov. - May
Distrib. India: In evergreen forests of Western Ghats: Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Endemic.
Notes. The fruits yield an inferior quality of yellow gutta-gum. Dried fruits are used like tamarind in curries.
