Edible : Fruit, Leaves, Spice.
A small bushy tree. It is often 3-6 m tall. It can be up to 15-30 metres high. The leaves tend to be long and narrow and shiny. They are dark green. They are pointed at the tip and more rounded at the base. The leaves are 10-15 cm long by 5-7 cm wide. The male and female flowers are separate, on separate trees. Female flowers producing fruit are on the ends of branches. A spike of dark reddish black berries is produced. The berries are about 1 cm across and have one seed inside. They hang in a large cluster. There are 20-50 in a cluster.
Distribution : A tropical plant. It can probably grow up to 1000 m altitude in the tropics. In Indonesia it grows between 50-1,400 m above sea level. It can stand light frost. They can grow on a variety of soils. They are common and widely distributed in open places and secondary forest throughout the Philippines. It can tolerate salt. It suits the humid tropical lowlands. It suits hardiness zones 10 -12. In XTBG Yunnan.