Trees average 25 feet in height and are covered with a rough, brown bark. They have many branches, with annual thorny branchlets bearing alternate, oval-oblong leaves of a clear green colour, with three to five strongly-marked, longitudinous veins. The small flowers are pale yellow and solitary. The fruit is a blood-red drupe, the size and shape of an olive, sweet, and mucilaginous in taste, slightly astringent. The pulp becomes softer and sweeter in drying, and the taste more like wine. They have pointed, oblong stones.
In fevers and dyspepsia (roots); externally applied to old wounds and ulcers (root powder); in the treatment of palpitations, insomnia, nervous exhaustion, night sweats and excessive perspiration (seeds); in the treatment of chronic fatigue, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, anaemia, irritability and hysteria (dried fruits).