Vern. :— Mainphal, manyul, karhar, arar (H.) ; Menphal (B.) ; Mindla, mandkolla, mindhal, mendphal (Pb.) ; Gundrow (Mar.); Mindhal (Guz.) ; Maidal, amuki (Nepal) ; Panji (Lepcha) ; Patiree (Uriya); Madu-karray, marukkallân-kay (Tam.) ; Mangha (Tel.) ; Kare (Kan.).
Habitat : — Subtropical Himalaya, from Jammu eastwards to Sikkim ; and thence southwards to Chittagong, and the Western Peninsula (not recorded from Assam, the Khasia Mountains, Silhet or the Eastern Peninsula).
A deciduous, thorny shrub or small tree, armed with stout axillary spines, l-l½in. or l-2in. long. Bark grey. Wood white or light-brown, compact, hard, close and even-grained. Branches horizontal, rigid, many of the lateral ones suppressed, and very short spines in opposite pair coming off immediately above branchlets, horizontal, woody, strong, very sharp. Leaves usually fasciculate on the suppressed branchlets, nearly sessile, l-2in. long, obovate, oval or spathulate, tapering to base, obtuse, apiculate, glabrous, or slightly pubescent, thin, reticulate veined. Stipules acuminate. Flowers lin. diam., 1-3 at ends of suppressed branchlets. Pedicels short. Calyx-limb broadly tubular, from nearly glabrous to very hairy; segments leafy, ovate, acute, imbricate, glabrous, or slightly hairy. Corolla hairy outside; tube as long as the Calyx ; lobes rounded, spreading. Fruit globose or broadly ovoid, about ¾in., crowned with large Calyx-limb, pilose, yellow, 2-celled ; pericarp thick. Seeds flat, surrounded with gelatinous pulp : Flowers yellowish-white, yellow, says Brandis.
Parts used : —The bark, rind and fruit.
Uses ;— The fruit is described by Sanskrit writers as the best and safest of emetics. One ripe fruit is said to be a sufficient dose; emesis is generally promoted by a drink containing bitters and aromatics.
Mahomedan writers describe it as an emetic which expels bile and phlegm, at the same time acting as an aperient; it should be administered with aromatics and honey (Dymock).
Externally applied, it acts as an anodyne in rheumatism (Stewart).
