A treelet that grows up to 2m high with crooked trunk and short stiff spines. Bark is smooth, greenish-yellow, and the inner bark is creamy white. Young stems, petioles, and gynaecium are light green and pubescent. Leaves are simple, spiral, and exstipulate. Petiole is winged. Wings are as broad and similar to the blade. Blade is dotted with oil cells, wavy, glossy, and 2.5cm × 2.2cm – 3.4cm – 2.7cm × 1.9cm. Fruits are bumpy, green, and strongly aromatic.

As a tonic, anti scurvy, expectorant and antidandruff (fruit juice); carminative (fruit peel)

Thai Herbs & Spices
Philippine Medicinal Herbs
Gernot Katzer's English Spice Index

citronellal, citronellol, nerol and limonene (leaf oil); limonene and beta-pinene (fruit peel oil)

Inhaled to cure nausea and fainting (rind oil); used in treatment of headache and worms in children (rind); to cure stomach pain (fruit peel); to promote gum health (fruit juice).

Christophe Wiart. Medicinal Plants of Asia and the Pacific, P:216-217, CRC Press, June 2006.Piyachaturawat, P., Glinsukon, T., Chanjarunee, A.,1985. Antifertility effect of Citrus hystrix DC., J Ethnopharmacology, 13(1):105-10.