Tallow Wood

The fruit are dispersed both by birds eating the succulent mesocarp and by water, as the endocarp contains air spaces and is able to float for a long time.

Shrub or tree, 2-4 m tall. Branchlets usually spiny. Petiole 3-5 mm; leaf blade ovate, elliptic, or obovate, 3-5 × 2-3 cm, ± leathery, base obtuse, apex obtuse, apiculate, mucronulate, or sometimes emarginate; secondary veins 3-5 on each side of midvein. Cymes or racemes 1.5-2.5 cm, 3-6-flowered. Pedicel 2-3 mm. Calyx cupular, ca. 1 mm. Petals 4 or 5, white or greenish, oblong, 5-7 mm, inside white-barbate. Stamens 8 or 10. Ovary ovoid-conic. Drupe orange, ± globose to ovoid, 2-3 cm in diam. Fl. and fr. Mar-Jun.

S Hainan [India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand; Africa, America, Australia, Pacific Islands].

Sandy areas behind beaches along seashores, rarely hills; near sea level to 100 m.