Edible portions: Fruit, Leaves, Seeds, Oil, Root bark - tea
A small tree or spiny shrub about 3-4 m high. It has spines about 1 cm long which are thin and straight. The leaves and branches are without hairs. The leaves are alternate, oval and about 2-4 cm long. The leaves are bluish green. The leaves fold upwards along the midrib. The tip of the leaf can be round or with a notch. The flowers are greenish white, have a smell and are less than 1 cm long. They occur in small branched clusters with a common stalk. The fruit are yellow, egg shaped and 2 cm across. They are thin skinned. They are sour. There is one large seed.
A tropical plant. It grows in the lowlands. They occur along the back of coasts and seashores from Luzon to Mindanao and Palawan in the Philippines. It occurs in the vegetation near the coastline. The plant occurs in all tropical countries. It is found in savannah in Africa. It is drought resistant. In China it grows in sandy areas behind beaches along the sea shore and mostly below 100 m in S China. In Bolivia it grows up to 900 m altitude. In Kenya it grows between 1,700-1,800 m altitude. In Ethiopia it grows between 500-2,450 m above sea level. It grows in the Sahel. It grows in areas with an annual rainfall between 100 -1,270 mm. It can grow in arid places.