Will Garcinia Cambogia grow in Florida?

[Weboh]

I have an opportunity to get Garcinia cambogia seeds, but I want to make sure the trees will do well here before I bother. I know it's related to mangosteen, which is very tropical. Would this tolerate zone 9a-10a? Is there any variety of mangosteen that would? Thanks.

[Triphal]

Do not think so. Even if the tree may grow flowering and fruiting may never happen. Even in 13b tropics it probably takes about ten (10) years to start flowering from seedlings! The fruit is very very sour and after sun drying it is used for souring the food. Not worth the risk planting in your zone. 

[roblack]

You can grow some garcinias and even fruit them in FL.

g. intermedia and Mexican mangosteen both have been fruited in FL, I think g. humilis too. Pretty sure all 3 and others will fruit here.

Think g. cambogia is rated for zones 10 and 11, so might need some cold protection. A grafted tree would fruit much quicker. On the other hand, the garcinias listed above are tastier and will probably grow better for you.

[markinnaples]

They have beautiful Garcinia cambogia trees at the Fruit and Spice Park. Around November you can probably get as many seeds as you want and pick up the sour fruit from the ground to try. Bring some sugar.

[KarenRei]

Garcinia gummi-gutta (aka "Garcinia cambogia"... very obsolete name) is generally one of the poorer rated species in the genus for eating out of hand.  It's only about 3°C hardier than G. mangostana

 If cold hardiness is the name of the game, the one to really keep an eye out for is Garcinia esculenta. Anyone ever tried it?  It's native to the southeast foothills of the Himalayas at 1300-1700 meters (southwestern border of China). GIS climate data records say that the average (not minimum, but average) January daily low there is -4,1°C.    I think that might be somewhat of an overestimate (Lijiang records just to the east show that their average January daily low is around freezing, with a record low of -6,1°C), but... it can definitely take the cold    If anyone is looking for finding new species for zone pushing, the Three Parallel Rivers area of China is argued to be the most biodiverse (species per unit area) temperate location on Earth.