Carissa spinarum

Carissa spinarum is an evergreen shrub, up to 4 m. This shrub is thorny, erect and scrambling (for this reason it is often describe as a climber). Carissa spinarum is armed with straight woody spines often in pairs and it has a milky latex.

The bark of Carissa spinarum is brown, rough with scales. It is smooth and green on young stems. Carissa spinarum has 3-4 cm long and opposite spines. The thorns are sometimes forked.

The leaves of Carissa spinarum grow opposite on the stem.
The leaf is simple, bright green coloured above and paler beneath. The leaf is shiny, coriaceous and glabrous on both sides.
The leaves have a 2 mm long petiole.
The leaf of Carissa spinarum is 3-5 cm long and 2-3 cm wide. The shape is ovoid-ovate, the apex is acuminate (sometimes with a short bristle), the base is cuneate or rounded and the margins are entire.
The venation of the leaf is reticulate with a prominent midrib.

The flowers of Carissa spinarum are grouped in terminal or axillary cymes. The pedicel of the flowers is short (less than 2 mm long).
The calyx is composed of 5 sepals. The calyx-lobes are 2 mm long and 1.5 mm wide, they are ovate with acute-acuminate apex. The calyx is pubescent and light green coloured.
The corolla is composed of 5 white coloured (sometimes pinkish at the apex) and glabrous petals. The corolla tube is 1.5 cm long and 2 mm in diameter and light green coloured. The corolla lobes are ovate with acuminate apex, 1.2 cm long and 5 mm wide, white coloured.
The androecium is composed of 5 stamens.
The pistil is composed of a 4 mm long style and a forked stigma. The flowers are fragrant.
 

The fruit of Carissa spinarum is a berry. The fruit is ovoid-ellipsoid, 1 cm long and 8 mm wide. The berry is green, reddish and finally purplish black when ripe. It contains usually 4 seeds.

The seeds of Carissa spinarum are ellipsoid and compressed. They are light brown, 6 mm long and 5 mm wide. There are usually 4 seeds in a berry.

The roots of Carissa spinarum are ground and put into the wounds of cattle to kill worms.

Source : Chopra, 1956, Glossary of Indian medicinal plants

The fruits of Carissa spinarum are edible, but only when fully ripe. The black berries have a sweet flavour but the milky sap of this plant is poisonous (as typical for the Apocynaceae).

In traditional medicine Carissa spinarum is used as a diuretic, purgative, antiviral, antibacterial, antiplasmodial, febrifuge, hypotensive, antioxidant and cardiotonic.

The branches and leaves decoction are used for headache, chest pains, rheumatism, syphilis, dysentery and fever.
The boiled root extract is drunk for chest pain, indigestion, diarrhea, typhoid fever, nose bleeding, lower abdominal pains in pregnant mothers, headache and fever in children. (Quattrocchi, 2012, CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants)

The juice of the fresh plant is used for infected wounds that refuse to heal. The Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India indicated the stem bark in obstinate skin diseases and the root in urinary disorders. (Khare, 2007, Indian Medicinal Plants, An Illustrated Dictionary)

The roots are used to treat mouth ulcers.