Catunaregam spinosa (Thunb.) Tirveng.

Shrubs or small trees, 1-10 m tall; branches rather stout, hirsute, pilose, pilosulous, or puberulent to glabrescent, armed with axillary stout paired thorns 1-5 cm. Petiole 2-8 mm, pilose, pilosulous, or hirtellous to glabrous; leaf blade drying papery or subleathery, obovate or oblong-obovate or rarely ovate to spatulate, 1.8-11 × 1-5.7 cm, both surfaces glabrous to strigillose, strigose, hirtellous, or sparsely hirsute at least along principal veins, base cuneate and sometimes decurrent, margins entire or often shortly ciliate, apex acute; secondary veins 4-7 pairs, often with pilosulous domatia in abaxial axils; stipules caducous, ovate to broadly triangular, 3-4.5 mm, acute to aristate. Inflorescences terminal on lateral short shoots together with tufted leaves, 1-3-flowered; pedicels 2-5 mm, brown villous or-hirtellous. Calyx brown villous,-hirtellous, or-strigose; ovary portion ovoid to ellipsoid, 3.5-7 × 4-5.5 mm; limb slightly dilated, deeply lobed; lobes broadly elliptic to oblanceolate or obovoid, 5-8 × 3-6 mm, acute to rounded. Corolla white, becoming pale yellow with age, campanulate; tube 5-6 mm, sparsely villous in throat; lobes ovate or ovate-oblong, 6-11 × (5.5-)8-9 mm, spreading, rounded to subtruncate. Anthers ca. 3 mm, fully exserted. Style 4-6 mm; stigma fusiform, with 2 coherent lobes, ca. 2 mm. Berry globose, 2-4 cm in diam., glabrous or sparsely pilose or strigose; seeds 4-5 mm. Fl. Mar-Jun, fr. May-Jan.

A tropical plant. In Nepal it grows to about 1500 m altitude. It grows in open, dry places. It can grow in arid places. In the Himalayas it grows to 1200 m altitude. It grows in hot lower valleys in Nepal.

Unripe fruit are pickled. The ripe fruit are cooked and eaten. The unripe fruit are cooked and eaten as a vegetable. The flowers are cooked as a vegetable. The ripe, roasted seeds are eaten. The leaves are cooked and eaten as a vegetable.

Plants are grown from seed. They can also be grown by cuttings.