The Word of the Day comes from "How We Disappeared" by Jing-Jing Lee. It is longlisted for the 2020 Women's Prize for Fiction.
MANGOSTEEN
Mangosteen, also known as the purple mangosteen, is a tropical evergreen tree with edible fruit native to island nations of Southeast Asia. Its exact origins are unknown due to its widespread cultivation since ancient times, but it is believed to have been somewhere between the Sunda Islands and the Moluccas. It grows mainly in Southeast Asia, southwest India and other tropical areas such as Colombia, Puerto Rico and Florida, where the tree has been introduced. The tree grows from 6 to 25 m tall. The fruit of the mangosteen is sweet and tangy, juicy, somewhat fibrous, with fluid-filled vesicles, with an inedible, deep reddish-purple colored rind when ripe. In each fruit, the fragrant edible flesh that surrounds each seed is botanically endocarp, i.e., the inner layer of the ovary. Seeds are almond-shaped and -sized.
Comments