Garcinia pictoria (Roxburgh) Engler (1925), not Buchanan-Hamilton (1826); G. tinctoria W. Wight (1909); G. tinctoria (Candolle) Dunn (1915); Xanthochymus pictorius Roxburgh; X. tinctorius Candolle.

Trees 8-10 m tall, 15-45 cm in diam. Bark gray-brown. Branches numerous, slender, decussate, horizontal but usually ± distally pendulous, twigs distinctly angled. Petiole robust, V-shaped and somewhat clasping at base, 1.5-2.5 cm, angled and transversely wrinkled when dry, those of terminal 1 or 2 pairs on branchlet usually rose-colored; leaf blade shiny, elliptic or oblong to oblong-lanceolate, (14-)20-34 × (4-)6-12 cm, thickly leathery, midvein robust, raised on both surfaces; veins dense, to 35-40 pairs, near margin arching and anastomosing; tertiary veins and veinlets conspicuous, base ± broadly cuneate, margin involute, apex acute to obtuse, rarely acuminate. Corymbose cyme (2-)5-10(-14)-flowered, arising from leafless axils; peduncle 6-12 mm. Pedicels 1.8-3 cm. Flowers 5-merous, only female observed. Sepals and petals 3 large and 2 small, apparently ciliate. Staminode fascicles 5, ca. 3 mm, complanate, united below, upper parts free, each fascicle with 2-5 staminodes; fasciclodes 5, square, ca. 1 mm, strongly rugose. Ovary globose, usually 5-loculed; style short, ca. 1 mm; stigma peltate, apex concave, (3-)5-cleft. Mature berry yellow, globose or ovoid, sometimes oblique, 3-5 cm in diam., smooth or sometimes with orbicular lenticels, apiculate, sepals and staminal bundles usually persistent. Seeds 1-4, oblong or ovoid; testa brown, smooth. Fl. Mar-May, fr. Aug-Nov. 2n = 72, 80, 96.

The fruit is edible but is rather sour. The seeds yield up to 17% oil.

Some scholars have reduced Garcinia pictoria Buchanan-Hamilton (Mem. Wern. Nat. Hist. Soc. 5: 346. 1826) to this species; however, G. pictoria Buchanan-Hamilton has 4-merous, solitary, sessile flowers, 4-cleft stigmas, and 4-angled fruit, so it is regarded as distinct.

Dense humid forests of valleys or on hills; (100-)600-1000(-1400) m. Guangdong (cultivated), SW Guangxi, S, SW, and W Yunnan [Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Japan (introduced and cultivated), Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam].