A Garcinia cowa tree, draped in a vivid red colour is currently screaming for attention at HortPark . This flaming beauty is one of the trees that are planted in the HortPark’s Garden Patch and can be located near the display plot adopted by Crystalene Products (Singapore) Pte Ltd.
Related to the common mangosteen (G. mangostana) and assam gelugor (G. atroviridis), G. cowa is commonly known as the cowa mangosteen and can be found growing wild in evergreen and semi-evergreen forests, streams and valleys in the area that extends from eastern to north-eastern India to Indo-China. It is also cultivated within and outside this geographical area.
Garcinia cowa can grow up to a height of about 12 m tall. The tree has numerous pendulous branches,with shiny leaves that are broadly lanceolate in shape. Young leaves that emerge are bright red in colour, which make the tree look highly attractive whenever new growth is produced. This characteristic is not unique to this species and can be seen in a handful of other Garcinia species.
Interestingly, this evergreen tree is dioecious, which means that separate sexes occur on separate trees. The ribbed fruits produced by female trees are about the size of a small orange which turn dull red when ripe. They are edible but not exactly palatable due to the sour taste of the pulp that is orange in colour. In Vietnam, the fruits are a source of natural citric acid that is used to flavour sour fish and crab soup. Besides the fruits, its young shoots and leaves are also edible and are featured as a food additive in many local Thai dishes.
Besides food and ornamental uses, the cowa mangosteen tree is sometimes used as a rootstock for grafting the common mangosteen tree.
