There may be sombody out there that could sell you one, but don't get your hopes up too high that you'll ever see fruit in your lifetime. Mangosteens are SLOW, and VERY tropical. Even in Hawaii they're difficult to grow, it's not really tropical enough for them here. They'll grow, but we had some seedlings in pots for years and years and they never got more than about a foot tall. It was a big deal if they put out a new leaf! We finally gave up.

Still, it can be done. I just had my first taste of fresh mangosteen fruit, grown by some friends on the Big Island. Don't know what their secret is, but in Oakland you will have a hard time.

Not that its easy, but there is a fruiting mangosteen plant at the Fullerrton Arboretum. It was planted as a 5-6 ft tree and has been in the ground outdoors for around three years. There is a nursey in San Diego that sometimes carries Mangosteen (and other exotic fruits), but I do not believe he ships.

Good Luck

Pretty sure the one at Fullerton is not Garcinia mangostana but is actually Garcinia xanthochymus, aka Himalayan Mangosteen. Much hardier and tolerant of cool conditions, but the fruit is yellow and sometimes rather tart, but I did recently eat several that were somewhat sweet and very tasty.

G. mangostana is a little hardier than many assume, it often fails because of improper soil pH, insufficient watering, water which is of basic pH (> pH7), and a lack of easily available fertilizers, mangosteen seem to respond to foliar sprays and drenches with water soluble fertilizers applied rather frequently but in a slightly more diluted solution than "normal" (think miracle grow or peter's 20-20-20, or 20-15-20 or similiar with micros)and once again the water like crazy thing in soil that drains well, but not super fast, and has an acid pH; canadian peat or similiar perhaps mixed 50/50 with a growers mix soil of some sort. My mangosteen have tolerated upper 30's F for a night or two, the only evidence was the next leaves produced were somewhat stunted but otherwise no problems. I also added some beneficial soil fauna (macro/micro-rhyzzai)last fall as it has been rumored that mangosteens rather hairless roots appreciate some help getting nutrients from the soil into their tissue. I feel that it might be of some use, certainly did not seem to hurt. The hairless roots thing may explain why easily available fertilizers seem to work well.

This does not mean that mangosteen will take 2 weeks of low 40's F nights outdoors without protection, it means a short term colder than average weather event above freezing will not be the end of your mangosteen, if your average low is 45F or less and the days are not very warm either, and winter is not puncuated by periods of warm weather (central and south Florida, extreme southern Texas)you have a lot of work ahead of you, a greenhouse with high humidity or similiar and decent warmth at night and some real heat during the day, or in some climates the indoors and outdoors as needed method may suffice, but watch out for dry garages and cold concrete robbing the pot of its heat.

Try a mangosteen several times before giving up if you are serious, each failure might teach you something new.

Here is a pic of G. xanthochymus fruit, foliage has copper spray residue on it giving it the powdery look:

The Fullerton labels the tree G. Mangostana but it may be another species. I do not know of a method of telling the difference (the fruits on the tree are still green) and the leaves/stems appear to be the same as I have seen in gardens in Hawaii. Hopefully the fruits on this tree will color up this summer and we will know. Also I have not seen it but a memeber of the CRFG told me that there is also a Mangosteen tree that has been in the ground for several years located at the Costa Mesa fairgrounds.

The new leaves on the true mangosteen are a very distinctive beautiful glossy bronze color. I don't know if the other Garcinia shares this trait or not. (I googled it and found a bazillion pictures of the fruit, and a few of the foliage, but none that shows what I'm talking about, so you'll just have to use your imagination!)

Does the Fullerton green fruit look like this? From my G. xanthochymus:

Fairchild has fruiting Mangosteens in the Whitman pavillion. They've also planted breadfruit, durian and other ultra-tropicals.

Alan_: Great pictures; how old is your gamboge tree?

How´s doing your pedalai? Do you have any pictures of it? I am sad about mine one, all its leaves are so ugly (low humidity).

hey tony la. Do you know if the mangosteen tree is still there at the costa mesa fairgrounds? What about the mangosteen tree at the cal state fullerton arboretum, was it a real mangosteen tree?