Shrub or tree, usually dioecious, usually spiny; young branches glabrous to pubescent. Leaves with the blade usually ovate to elliptic, 2.5–12 x 2–8 cm, obtusely acuminate to rounded at the apex, glabrous to pubescent, serrate-crenate to subentire, with 4–7 pairs of lateral nerves; petiole up to 20 mm long. Male flowers in racemes 0.5–2 cm long; pedicels up to 1 cm long; sepals broadly ovate, 1.5–2.5 mm long, pubescent. Female flowers sometimes solitary; pedicels up to 5 mm; disk lobed, clasping the base of the ovary; styles spreading. Fruit globose, reddish when ripe, up to 2.5 cm across, with persistent styles. Seeds 8–10 x 4–7 mm.
Range
S3 East Africa, widespread in tropical Africa and eastwards to S Asia and Malesia; sometimes cultivated for its fruits that are edible though acid.
