Bark
Stem woody, greyish-brown, generally smooth when young and becoming rough with age; young branches greenish to brown.
Salacia chinensis
Syn. Salacia prinoides
IUCN Red List
Least Concern
(LC)
Local name
- Chinese Salaci (English)
- Saptarangi (Hindi)
- Saptarangi (Gujarati)
Climber type
Evergreen
Deciduous
Family: Celastraceae
Indicated uses
Medicinal
Edible
Ornamental
Avenue
Other
Flowering & fruiting
Flowering
Fruiting
Key characters
Leaves
Branchlets are angular, with leaves carried on stalks 8-10 mm long. Leaf blade is elliptic, narrowly ovate-round or obovate-elliptic, 5-11 X 2-5 cm, leathery, base wedge-shaped, margin sparsely toothed, tip nearly acute.
Flower
Small yellow-green flowers arise in 3-6-flowered fascicles in leaf axils. Flower stalks are 6-10 mm. Sepals are triangular, up to 1 mm. Petals are broadly ovate, 3 mm, broadly spreading or curved outward, with rounded tip. Disk is cup-shaped, 1 mm tall.
Fruit / Seeds
Berry is round or ovate, 1 cm in diameter, red when ripe, 1-seeded.
Did you know?
It is traditionally known as Saptarangi, meaning “seven colours.” The name refers to the distinctive, contrasting bands of colour sometimes visible in the wood when the stem or root is cut across.
Distribution
China (Guangxi, Guangdong) to Tropical Asia and N. Australia