Catunaregam spinosa

• Botanical Name : Catunaregam spinosa (Thunb.) Tirveng.
• Synonyms : Randia dumetorum (Retz.) Lam.
• Common Name : Mindhal, Gehela, Gel, Mountain Pomegranate, Common Emetic Nut
• Plant Family : Rubiaceae
• Plant Form : Shrub
• Occurrence (Special Areas) : Indroda Park

About Catunaregam spinosa Plant :

• Habit : A large shrub, armed with stout and sharp spines.
• Stem : Branches horizontal, rigid, many of the lateral ones suppressed and very short.
• Leaves : Fascicled on suppressed branches, obovate or spathulate.
• Inflorescence: Solitary or 2-3 together.
• Flowers :
  • White turning yellow when old, fragrant about one inch across.
  • Calyx campanulate, hairy.
  • Corolla white afterwards becoming yellow, hairy, lobes 5, oblong, spreading.
  • Stamens 5, sessile.
• Fruit : A berry like a small crab-apple, yellow, ovoid, crowned with large calyx lobes, seeds many.
• Flowering and Fruiting Time : March - June
• Significance :
  • The fruits are used by Hindus at the time of marriage ceremonies.
  • It is bitter and bad in taste, useful in chronic bronchitis, pain in the muscles and paralysis.
  • The roasted ripe fruit is edible but the unripe fruit and the root are used as a paralyzing fish poison.
  • The bark is astringent.