Descriptions

It is a fast-growing tree. It is a small soft wooded tree up to 3–8 m (10–26 ft) tall.

Use(s)

The tender leaves, green fruit, and flowers are eaten alone as a vegetable or mixed into curries or salads. Flowers may be dipped in batter and fried in butter. Bark, leaves, gums, and flowers are considered medicinal. The astringent bark was used in treating smallpox and other eruptive fevers. The juice from the flowers is used to treat headache, head congestion, or stuffy nose. As a snuff, the juice is supposed to clear the nasal sinuses. Leaves are poulticed onto bruises. Rheumatic swellings are poulticed or rubbed with aqueous decoctions of the powdered roots of the red-flowered variant.