A tree that grows up to 27m in height and 23cm in diameter. Bark is fawn and smooth with big spines on a rounded podia. Stems are terete, hollowed, and covered with numerous spines. Leaves are spiral, exstipulate, and compound. Rachis is 20–36cm and 3mm in diameter. Folioles are subopposite, 7cm × 2 cm – 7.8cm × 2.7cm – 8cm × 3.3cm – 7.5cm × 4cm – 6.7cm × 3.8cm, aromatic, glossy and leathery above, with 7–12 pairs of secondary nerves that are sunken above and raised below, with several oil cells; margin is minutely serrate and apex is minutely notched. Inflorescence are cymoses and 12cm long. Flowers are minute, 3mm × 2mm. Fruits are in groups of two or three globose folioles which open to show a glossy seed.

As a condiment (fruit); febrifuge (leaves)

PROSEA (Plant Resources of South-East Asia) Foundation

The seeds are burned and the smoke inhaled to heal syphilitic ulceration of the nose. The leaves are used to suppress cough.

Christophe Wiart. Medicinal Plants of Asia and the Pacific, P:229, CRC Press, June 2006.