Garcinia mangostana

9.9

A tropical tree that produces mangosteen, a sweet round fruit

noun

Specialized

: Garcinia mangostana

The Garcinia mangostana is widely cultivated for its delicious mangosteen fruit.

Examples

The Garcinia mangostana tree thrives in tropical climates.
Botanists are researching the medicinal properties of Garcinia mangostana.
In tropical gardens, Garcinia mangostana adds both beauty and economic value.
Many people love the flavor of Garcinia mangostana fruit.
The Garcinia mangostana tree is famous for producing sweet and tangy mangosteen fruit.
Farmers in Southeast Asia cultivate Garcinia mangostana for its lucrative fruit.
You can find Garcinia mangostana thriving in many tropical gardens around the world.

Synonyms

mangosteen

vsGarcinia mangostana

Philippine

1 9.6

A tropical evergreen tree with thick leaves that produces sweet purple fruit

is the formal Latin species name referring only to the tree

mangosteen tree

vsGarcinia mangostana

Philippine

8.1

A tropical evergreen tree that produces sweet purple fruit called mangosteen

is the scientific Latin name for that very same tree species

Surface Forms

Garcinia mangostana singular

Garcinia mangostanas plural

Morphology

Garcinia + mangostana

This is a Latin binomial (genus + species) functioning as a scientific proper name rather than a compositional English phrase; the species epithet 'mangostana' has no independent lexical meaning in English. Even if a learner knows that Garcinia refers to a group of trees, they cannot derive the specific sense 'mangosteen tree' from the parts alone, so the meaning is not predictably compositional for a B1 learner.

Etymology

Garcinia mangostana is a scientific name with a clear picture: Garcinia is named after the French plant scientist Garcin, and mangostana comes from the Malay word 'manggis' for the mangosteen fruit. So the name points to the tree that produces the mangosteen.