Wood apple is an erect, slow-growing tree with a few upward-reaching branches
bending outward near the summit where they are subdivided into slender
branchlets drooping at the tips. The bark is ridged, fissured and scaly and
there are sharp spines 3/4 to 2 in long on some of the zigzag twigs.
The deciduous, alternate leaves, 3 to 5 in long, dark-green,
leathery, often minutely toothed, blunt or notched at the apex, are dotted
with oil glands and slightly lemon-scented when crushed. Yellowish green
flowers, tinged with red, 1/2 in across, are borne in small, loose, terminal
or lateral panicles. The tree is mostly known for its hard woody fruit, size of
a tennis ball, round to oval in shape. The
pulp is brown, mealy, odorous, resinous, astringent, acid or sweetish, with
numerous small, white seeds scattered through it.
Photographed in Delhi and Bangalore.
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The flower labeled Wood Apple is ...