Deciduous spiny shrub or small tree 2–4(–7) m. high; bark dark grey and glabrous; branches terete; spines solitary or paired and axillary, 2–3.5 cm. long, straight.. Leaves 1(–2–3)-foliolate, alternate; petiole 5–18 mm. long, grooved above towards the lamina; lamina elliptic to ovate-lanceolate, 7–17 cm. long, 3–6.5 cm. broad, acuminate or acute at the apex, cuneate at the base, irregularly crenulate along the margin, semicoriaceous, glabrous; midrib prominent beneath especially towards the petiole; lateral nerves 7–10 pairs; pellucid glands numerous.. Inflorescence of axillary panicles 2–5 cm. long, irregularly shortly branched; bracts present in pairs at the base of a pedicel, ovate-lanceolate, to 1 mm. long; pedicel 2–3 mm. long.. Flowers 3–4-merous, greenish white; buds ovoid.. Calyx 2 mm. long, shortly lobed.. Petals oblong, 9–10 mm. long, 7–8 mm. broad, obtuse.. Stamens 9–12 (3 times as many as the petals); filaments 4–5 mm. long, liguliform, attenuate at the apex; anther 2 mm. long.. Disk annular, 5–6 mm. in diameter, 1.5–2 mm. high, lobed.. Ovary ovoid, partially inserted in the disk, 5–8-locular; style cylindrical, ± 2 mm. long; stigma capitate, ± 1.5 mm. in diameter.. Fruit spherical or pear-shaped, 9–11 cm. long, 7–8 cm. in diameter, aromatic, yellow-green, woody, 5–8-locular, each locule many-seeded.. Seeds subellipsoid, 10–15 mm. long, 7–8 mm. in diameter, surrounded by a strongly aromatic balsamic resin.. Fig. 2, p. 8.
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