Botany
A shrub 2-3 meters high. Branchlets are slender and 4-angled. Leaves are oblong-lanceolate to oblong-elliptic; 4-6 cm long, short-stalked, and pointed at both ends. Flowers are red with six segments in the calyx which are 2-3 cm long. Petals are obovate, 2 cm long. Stamens are numerous. Fruit is rounded, reddish-yellow or purplish, 7-10 cm iin diameter. Rind is thin, tough, and brittle. Fruit contains numerous seeds, surrounded by a flavorful pinkish-red pulp.

Distribution
Garden plant; nowhere spontaneous.

Chemical constituents and properties
The bark yields four alkaloidsL pelletierine, isopelletierine, methyl-pelletierine, and pseudo-pelletierine.
Fruit is rich in vitamin C; a good source of iron.
Fruit rind contains tannin.
Pelletierine is anti-taeniacidal; isopelletierine, antihelminthic.
Rind of the fruit is astringent.
Seeds are stomachic; pulp is cardiacal and stomachic.

Parts used
Roots, flowers, seeds and fruit rinds.

Uses:
Nutritional
Fruit contains vitamin C, citric and malic acids. Eaten green as boiled vegetable; ripe, iced and sugared.
Folkloric
Decoction of root bark used for tapeworm.
Decoction of tender leaves used as gargle for buccal afflictions.
Decoction of roots used for tuberculosis, chronic debility, chronic feverishness.
Decoction of leaves used as eyewash.
Powdered flower buds used for bronchitis.
Decoction of juice of the flower with equal parts of Cynodon dactylon used to stop epistaxis and as gargle.
Infusion of flowers used as vermifuge.
Decoction of the dried rind of the fruit used for stomach pains and dysentery; infusion used for colitis.

Availability
Wild-crafted.