Madrono, Garcinia madruno

Madrono - Garcinia madruno

Fig. 1

Garcinia madruno
Madroño fruta exotica

Leaf

Fig. 2

G. madruno leaf

Leaves

Fig. 3

Fig. 9

Male flower buds

Fig. 10

Male flowers

Fig. 13

Fig. 14

Fig. 20

Dry seeds

Fig. 21

G. madruno trunk

Yellow latex seeping from the cut surface of the wood

Fig. 22

Yellow latex seeping from the cut surface of the wood

Tree habit in Hawaii

Fig. 23

G. madruno. tree habit in Hawai'i

Tree habit Costa Rica

Fig. 24

G. madruno tree habit in Costa Rica

Garcinia madruno. Colombia.

Fig. 25

Tree habit in Colombia

Scientific name
Garcinia madruno (Kunth) Hammel
Common names
English: madrono, lemon drop mangosteen; French: madruno, German: Marienbalsam; Spanish: charichuelo, cozoiba, madroño, naranjita, ocoró, satro, machari or fruta de mono (Panama), cerillo (Costa Rica), cozoiba (Venezuela), kamururu (Bolivia) ^5,6
Synonyms
Calophyllum madruno Kunth; Chloromyron verticillatum Pers.; Rheedia acuminata (Ruiz & Pav.) Planch. & Triana; R. kappleri Eyma; R. madruno (Kunth) Planch. & Triana; R. madruno subsp. bituberculata Pittier; R. madruno subsp. ovata Pittier; Verticillaria acuminata Ruiz & Pav. ⁷
Family
Clusiaceae/Guttiferae (St. John’s wort family)
Origin
Southern America
USDA hardiness zones
10-11
Uses
Fruit; landscape specimen
Height
20-40 ft (6-12 m) ⁴
Crown
Pyramidal or nearly round crown ⁵
Plant habit
The tree is erect, lush, compact; has much gummy yellow latex ⁵
Trunk/bark/branches
New branches have a somewhat angular growth ²
Leaves
Evergreen; opposite, simple, dark green; leathery
Flowers
Creamy-white; unisexual; fragrant; borne singly or in fascicles on young branches
Fruit
White, juicy, acid-sweet pulp; looks like a droopy lemon with similar rind; pulp coats, tightly adheres to 1-3 seeds
Season
Mid summer
Light requirement
Full sun or light shade
Soil tolerances
Adapted to a wide range of soils; well-drained
pH preference
6.6-7.8
Drought tolerance
Unknown
Aerosol salt tolerance
Unknown
Soil salt tolerance
Fair
Cold tolerance
Tolerates average winter conditions but hard freezes may damage leaves/twigs ³
Invasive potential *
None reported
Pest resistance
Few if any pest problems

Reading Material
Madrono, Fruits of Warm Climates
The Madrono, University of Florida, Palm Beach Extension

There are over 250 Garcinia species, mostly from southeast Asia. Garcinia species from the Americas were once classified as Rheedia, but now all are considered Garcinia.

Sorting Garcinia Names, Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database, University of Melbourne, Australia ^{ext. link}

Origin
The madruno originates from Eastern Amazonian non-flooded tropical lowland regions and is now grown in Costa Rica, Panama, the Guianas and Venezuela at elevations up to 1200m in the Andes. It is not widely known outside Central and South America but has been introduced into Florida. ⁸

Description
Garcinia madruno is a fruit tree occasionally cultivated in the Amazon region and easily found in its natural habitat, the Eastern Amazon, in dry forests with generally sandy soils. It is and evergreen with a dense crown, new growth branches are somewhat angular. It is 20-40 ft (6-12 m) tall. ²

Leaves
The opposite leaves are elliptic to oblong, wedge-shaped at the base, rounded or pointed at the apex, 2 3/8 to 8 in (6-20 cm) long, 3/4 to 3 in (2-7.5 cm) wide; dark green above, paler beneath, with numerous veins conspicuous on both surfaces and merging into a thick marginal vein. ⁵


Fig. 4	Fig. 5	Fig. 6


Fig. 7	Fig. 8

Flowers
The fragrant male and female flowers are borne on separate trees in clusters of up to 14 in the leaf axils; have 4 reflexed, pale-yellow petals; the male, 25 to 30 light-yellow stamens. ⁵


Fig. 11	Fig. 12

Fig. 11. Male flower cluster

Fruit
The fruit is round or ellipsoidal, sometimes with a prominent nipple at each end; 2 to 3 in. (5-7.5 cm) long, with thick, leathery, warty, greenish-yellow rind containing a deep-yellow, resinous latex. The white, translucent, juicy, sweet-acid, aromatic pulp adheres tightly to the 1 to 3 ovate or oblong seeds which are about 3/4 in. (2 cm) long. ⁵
The fruit looks like a shriveled droopy lemon, and has a similar rind. Theis soft white pulp and has a popular, slightly citrusy taste people have compared to a sweet santol fruit or lemony cotton candy. The species was formerly included in the genus Rheedia, which has since been absorbed into Garcinia, as Rheedias species are now known as "new world mangosteens." ¹
One word of caution, though: do not pick fruits prior to maturity. If picked prior to maturity, fruits are generally very acid, and once picked, no further ripening occurs in the fruit (non-climacteric). ³
Fruits take 3-6 months to mature. ⁸


Fig. 15	Fig. 16	Fig. 17


Fig. 18	Fig. 19

Pollination
A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required.

Propagation
Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a semi-shaded position in a nursery seedbed. Germination rates in excess of 70% are usually achieved, with the seed sprouting within 60-70 days. Growth of plants in the field is moderate to rapid. ⁴

Culture
Garcinia madruno is well adapted to a wide variety of soils, tolerating even poor soils or heavy clay. It is a slow grower and takes about 5 to 7 years to fruit. When young, it must be protected from frosts and it will not fruit in cold areas. The fruit is not very well known outside of South America and a few backyard growers in South Florida. ¹

Food Uses
In addition to being eaten as a fresh fruit it makes an excellent jam. ³

Other Uses
The yellow latex of the tree is used in Panama to treat ulcers and other sores. The wood is pinkish and hard but not commonly used. ⁵

General
All Garcinias include the Tupi language name for fruit that drop when ripe: bacuri. 'Bacuri' is borrowed from the Tupi, one of the most important lowland South American languages, and means the fruit that falls ('ba') as soon as it is ripe ('curi') = immediately). ⁹

Other Edible Garcinia species:
Achachairu, G. humilis
Bacuripari, G. macrophylla
Bakupari, G. brasiliensis
Cherapu (button mangosteen), G. prainiana
Gamboge (false mangosteen), G. xanthochymus
Imbe (African mangosteen), G. livinstonei
Lemon Drop Mangosteen, G. intermedia

List of Growers and Vendors

Bibliography

¹"Garcinia madruno." Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org. Accessed 24 Nov. 2014.² Lorenzi, Harri, et al. Brazillian Fruits & Cultivated Exotics (for consuming in natura). Brazil. Instituto Plantarum de Estudos da Flora, 2006.
³ Joyner, Gene. "The Madrono." UF/IFAS Palm Beach Extension, ifas.ufl.edu. Accessed 3 May 2015.
⁴ Lorenzi. H. Brazilian Trees, A Guide to the Identification and Cultivation of Brazilian Native Trees. Vol. 3. Nova Odessa, Instituto Plantarum de Estudos da Flora, 2009.
⁵ Fruits of Warm Climates. Julia F. Morton, Miami, 1987.
⁶ "Garcinia madruno (Kunth) Hammel." USDA, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. National Plant Germplasm System, GRIN-Global, npgsweb.ars-grin.gov. Accessed 7 Jan. 2017.
⁷ "Garcinia madruno (Kunth) Hammel synonyms." The Plant List (2010), Version 1, theplantlist.org. Accessed 7 Dec. 2017.
⁸ "Madruno, Bacuri, Lemon Drop Mangosteen, Garcinia (Rheedia) madruno (acuminata)." The Rare Fruit Club WA, www.rarefruitclub.org.au/Madruno.htm. Accessed 2 May 2021.
⁹ The Encyclopedia of Fruit & Nuts. Edited by Jules Janick and Robert E. Paull, Cambridge, CABI, 2008.

Photographs

Fig. ¹ Castro, Nelson Fernando Sotelo. "Madroño fruta exotica." Flickr, (CC BY 2.0), Image cropped, www.flickr.com/photos/fernando680411/16589413729. Accessed 4 May 2021.
Fig. ^{2,4,5,6, 15,16,17,19,22,24} Aguilar, Reinaldo. "Garcinia madruno (kunth) Hammel." Vascular Plants of the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, 2011, Flickr, (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0), flickr.com. Accessed 7 Jan. 2017.
Fig. ^{9,10,11,13,14,18,20}Steve Paton. "Garcinia madruno." Environmental Sciences Program, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, STRI, biogeodb.stri.si.edu. Accessed 25 Jan. 2014.
Fig. ¹² Álvarez-Alcázar, Leonardo. "Garcinia madruno. Costa Rica." iNaturalist Research Grade, no. 115017355, 12 Jan. 2021, (CC BY-NC 4.0), www.inaturalist.org/photos/115017355. Accessed 4 May 2021.
Fig. ²³ Starr, Forest, and Kim. "Garcinia madruno." Starr Environmental, Kahanu Gardens NTBG Kaeleku Hana, Maui, 2009, (CC BY 3.0 US), starrenvironmental.com. Accessed 6 Apr. 2015.
Fig. ^7,8,25 amesac. "Garcinia madruno. Colombia." iNaturalist Research Grade, no. 9155463, 14 Dec. 2017, (CC BY-NC 4.0), www.inaturalist.org/photos/9155463. Accessed 4 May 2021.

* UF/IFAS Assessment of Non-native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas

Published 12 Apr. 2014 LR. Last update 12 Dec. 2023 LR