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Food - It is primarily used for the fragrant leaves, a staple ingredient in South Asian cuisine, especially curries. It has traditional medicinal uses. Green leaves are eaten raw for the cure of dysentery, and diarrhea, and for checking to vomit. Sometimes it is grown as an ornamental shrub for its glossy foliage and fragrant flowers.
Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, Pakistan
It grows in dry woodlands and on the edges of forests in tropical and subtropical regions.
The leaves have a distinct flavour, best known for its culinary and medicinal uses. Popular in home and kitchen gardens.
It is an evergreen shrub reaching 1-6 m tall, and dense branching.
Stems are woody and branching, with smooth, grayish-brown bark that develops shallow fissures with age. The branching pattern is dense and bushy, with numerous branches growing outwards from the main trunk.
Leaves are pinnate (compound), with a single central stalk and several leaflets arranged oppositely along it. The glossy, dark green leaflets are typically elliptical or ovate, with smooth or slightly serrated margins and a pointed tip. Individual leaflets can be 2-5 cm long and 1-2 cm wide.
Flowers are small, white, and fragrant, clustered in loose cymes (flat-topped clusters) at the branch tips. Each flower has five white petals, five yellow stamens with prominent anthers, and a single pistil. Flowering typically occurs in spring and summer.
Fruit is a small, drupe-like berry, about 1 cm in diameter. It matures from green to a glossy black color and contains a single seed.
Flowering: March – June
Fruiting: August – October