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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.
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