Carissa carandas L.

കരക്ക

Family : APOCYNACEAE

Synonym :

Arduina carandas (L.) Baill.

Common Names : Karakka, Karanda, Kalachedi, Klavu, Christ's thorn, Jasmine flowered carrisa, Karanda

Flowering Period : January-June

Distribution : Indo-Malesia

Habitat : Dry deciduous forests, also grown in homesteads

Uses : Fruit edible - raw or cooked. Very sour at maturity but it is sourish sweet when fully ripe. In Thailand it is mainly used as pickles, however, it can also be made into jam, jellies and puddings. Furthermore, the fruit is also used to make beverages, curries and tarts. The fruits are astringent, antiscorbutic and also used as a remedy for biliousness. A leaf decoction is used against fever, diarrhoea, and earache. The roots serve as a stomachic, vermifuge and remedy for itches. The plant responds well to trimming and is frequently grown as a hedge. The roots are used as an insect repellent.

Key Characters :

Armed shrubs, latex milky, dichotomously branched, spines forked at apex, 4.5 cm. Leaves 6 x 3.5 cm, elliptic-oblong, apex obtuse or emarginate, subcoriaceous; petiole to 0.5 cm. Cymes axillary and terminal, corymbose, puberulus; flowers white; calyx 5-lobed, 2.5 mm ,ovate, , aristate; corolla hypocrateriform, tube 2 cm, pubescent, twisted, 7 x 3 mm, ovate, pubescent; stamens 2.5 mm, obtuse, mucronate, sessile; ovary 1 mm, stigma fusiform, twisted. Berry 2.5 cm across, black when ripe.