Synonym: Antidesma diandrum
Genus: 16 species.
Region: E. Asia - China, Indian subcontinent, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia.
Habitat: moist tropics, dry deciduous, deciduous and evergreen forest; at forest edges, in open spaces and bamboo thickets; in open or half-shady habitats; associated with dipterocarps, pine, oak; secondary, often disturbed, much degraded or frequently burnt vegetation; sandy gravel, red volcanic soil, on sand, silt, red lateritic soil, limestone, granite, shale-granite.
Use: medicine; leaves, young, cooked as a vegetable, in curries; fruit raw.
BotanyDioecious shrub or a tree; up to 10 metres tall.
Stem: bole, usually branches from near the base; 10cm in diameter.
Fruit: small, up to 6 mm long and 4 mm in diameter