vyaghranakhi :

Morphology:

A climbing shrub, 2-5(-10) m tall with zigzag branches, pubescence tawny to brownish red.

Leaves ovate to elliptical, 4-10(-18) cm × 3-6(-9) cm, base acute or obtuse, tip acute, leathery, petiole 0.5-1.5 cm long, thorns 3-6 mm long, recurved.

Flowers 2-5 in a row, rarely solitary, before the leaves on young twigs, pedicel stout, 1-2 cm long, sepals concave, 1 cm long, hairy, petals 0.9-1.6 cm long, thin, white to pinkish, inner side later darker, pinkish to red; stamens 30-50, filaments 2.5-3.5 cm long, pink, later turning dark purple; gynophore 2.5-4.5 cm, pubescent only towards the base.

Fruit a globular to ellipsoid berry, up to 5 cm × 4 cm, on 5 cm-long gynophore; skin woody-coriaceous, red to purple.

Seeds numerous, embedded in fleshy pulp.

Histology:

Fruit – Epicarp shows thick cuticle covering the single layered epidermal cells followed by thick walled parenchyma, filled with yellow contents, mesocarp composed of thick walled parenchyma, having groups of pitted sclereids at places along with some vascular strands, endocarp contains collapsed cells, abundant oil globules present.

Seed – T.S. shows testa having thick cuticle; with a single layered, laterally elongated, loosely packed, pigmented, epidermal cells, followed by 8 to 10 layers of compactly arranged circular pitted stone cells with very thick wall and narrow lumen; tegmen consists of collapsed cells; endosperm parenchyma filled with oil and aleurone grains, oil cells with yellowish oil at some places.

Powder – Reddish brown, sticky, shows sclereids, parenchymatous cells filled with oil and cells filled with aleurone grains.

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