Garcinia sopsopia
(Buch.-Ham.) Mabberley in Taxon 26: 529.1977. Oxycarpus sopsopia Buch.- Ham. in Mem. Wern. Soc. 5: 345.1826. G. paniculata Roxb. ex Wight,
Ill. Ind. Bot. 125. 1831; T. Anderson in Fl. Brit. India 1: 266. 1874. Stalagmitis paniculata
G. Don, Gen. Hist.l: 621.1831.
Asm.: Sochopa-tenga; Kh.: Dieng-soh-jadu, Dieng-soh-longkor, Dieng-soh-longlcy-dow; Lus.: Bombhathei Vawmva; Garo: Thirsu.
Trees, 12 -20 m tall, dioecious, handsome with an oval lax crown; trunk ca 1.2 m in girth; branchlets many, ascending, decussate; wood moderately hard, greyish-brown, brittle; bark grey red, peeling off in small, thin, flakes, almost smooth, exudes yellow gum. Leaves 13 - 20 (- 24) x 4 - 10(- 14) cm, oblong-lanceolate or obovate, acute at base, acuminate at apex, repand or entire, decussate, shiny, membranous or subcoriaceous, smooth, lateral veins 7 - 10, prominent beneath, ca 2 cm apart, arcuate, anastamosing near margins, tertiary veins very fine, transverse, parallel; petioles 15 - 22 mm long, stout, slightly dilated at base. Male flowers: pure or dull white, sweet-scented, sessile or shortly pedicelled in 12 cm long compound panicles; branches of panicle brachiate angled, pinkish white; 12 - 20 mm in diam., pure or dull white, sweet-scented, almost sessile or pedicels less than 5 mm long. Sepals 4, outer pair thick, ca 2 mm long, inner pair ca 2.5 mm long, decussate, green. Petals 4, pure or dull white, ca 7 mm long, ovate, distinctly concave, imbricate. Stamens indefinite, in a large subglobose, subsessile mass; filaments short; anthers obovate, bilocular, dehiscing by 2 vertical clefts. Rudimentary pistil absent. Female flowers: In short few-flowered, spicate racemes, rarely branched, similar to but larger than male flowers, sessile or with very short pedicels. Staminodes absent or rarely 1 - 2 filaments present. Ovary subglobose, 5-locular, pentagonous; stigmas sessile, convex, entire, tubercled, coronate. Berries yellow, ca 2.5 cm, rarely up to 4.5 cm in diam., spherical, succulent, usually 4-locular, crowned by hemispherical, granular stigma. Seeds 3 - 5, reniform; aril pulpy with an agreeable odour but sour, taste similar to that of mangosteen.
Fl. & Fr. Nov. - July.
Distrib. India: In evergreen forests of Eastern himalayas and lower hills, ascending to 915 m. Sikkim, Assam, Nagaland, Tripura and Meghalaya.
Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Notes. The aril with good flavour is eaten. It has been recommended as a suitable rootstock for mangosteen. The leaves are also said to be edible, often cultivated (Type is from a tree cultivated in Indian Botanic Garden, Calcutta).
Trees, 12 -20 m tall, dioecious, handsome with an oval lax crown; trunk ca 1.2 m in girth; branchlets many, ascending, decussate; wood moderately hard, greyish-brown, brittle; bark grey red, peeling off in small, thin, flakes, almost smooth, exudes yellow gum. Leaves 13 - 20 (- 24) x 4 - 10(- 14) cm, oblong-lanceolate or obovate, acute at base, acuminate at apex, repand or entire, decussate, shiny, membranous or subcoriaceous, smooth, lateral veins 7 - 10, prominent beneath, ca 2 cm apart, arcuate, anastamosing near margins, tertiary veins very fine, transverse, parallel; petioles 15 - 22 mm long, stout, slightly dilated at base. Male flowers: pure or dull white, sweet-scented, sessile or shortly pedicelled in 12 cm long compound panicles; branches of panicle brachiate angled, pinkish white; 12 - 20 mm in diam., pure or dull white, sweet-scented, almost sessile or pedicels less than 5 mm long. Sepals 4, outer pair thick, ca 2 mm long, inner pair ca 2.5 mm long, decussate, green. Petals 4, pure or dull white, ca 7 mm long, ovate, distinctly concave, imbricate. Stamens indefinite, in a large subglobose, subsessile mass; filaments short; anthers obovate, bilocular, dehiscing by 2 vertical clefts. Rudimentary pistil absent. Female flowers: In short few-flowered, spicate racemes, rarely branched, similar to but larger than male flowers, sessile or with very short pedicels. Staminodes absent or rarely 1 - 2 filaments present. Ovary subglobose, 5-locular, pentagonous; stigmas sessile, convex, entire, tubercled, coronate. Berries yellow, ca 2.5 cm, rarely up to 4.5 cm in diam., spherical, succulent, usually 4-locular, crowned by hemispherical, granular stigma. Seeds 3 - 5, reniform; aril pulpy with an agreeable odour but sour, taste similar to that of mangosteen.
Fl. & Fr. Nov. - July.
Distrib. India: In evergreen forests of Eastern himalayas and lower hills, ascending to 915 m. Sikkim, Assam, Nagaland, Tripura and Meghalaya.
Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Notes. The aril with good flavour is eaten. It has been recommended as a suitable rootstock for mangosteen. The leaves are also said to be edible, often cultivated (Type is from a tree cultivated in Indian Botanic Garden, Calcutta).
