Carissa spinarum

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Asterids
Cladus: Lamiids
Ordo: Gentianales

Familia: Apocynaceae
Subfamilia: Rauvolfioideae
Tribus: Carisseae
Genus: Carissa
Species: Carissa spinarum
Name

Carissa spinarum L., Mant. Pl. 2: 559 (1771).
Synonymy

Heterotypic
Antura edulis Forssk., Fl. Aegypt.-Arab. p. cvi (1775).
Antura hadiensis J.F. Gmel., Syst. Nat., ed. 13[bis]. 2(1): 405 (1791).
Azima pubescens Suess., Mitt. Bot. Staatssamml. München, Heft 8, 334 (1953).
Cabucala brachyantha Pichon, Notul. Syst. (Paris) 13: 205 (1948).
Carissa abyssinica R. Br.
Carissa axillaris Roxb.
Carissa brownii F. Muell.
Carissa campenonii (Drake) Palacky
Carissa candolleana Jaub. & Spach
Carissa carandas var. congesta (Wight) Bedd.
Carissa carandas var. paucinervia (A. DC.) Bedd.
Carissa cochinchinensis Pierre ex Pit.
Carissa comorensis (Pichon) Markgr.
Carissa coriacea Wall.
Carissa cornifolia Jaub. & Spach
Carissa dalzellii Bedd.
Carissa densiflora var. microphylla Danguy ex Lecomte
Carissa diffusa Roxb.
Carissa dulcis Schumach. & Thonn.
Carissa edulis (Forssk.) Vahl
Carissa edulis f. revoluta
Carissa edulis subsp. continentalis Pichon
Carissa edulis var. ambungana Pichon
Carissa edulis var. densiflora (Baker) Pichon
Carissa edulis var. horrida (Pichon) Markgr.
Carissa edulis var. microphylla Pichon
Carissa edulis var. nummularis Pichon
Carissa edulis var. revoluta (Scott-Elliot) Markgr.
Carissa edulis var. subtrinervia Pichon
Carissa edulis var. tomentosa (A. Rich.) Stapf
Carissa hirsuta Roth
Carissa horrida Pichon
Carissa inermis Vahl
Carissa lanceolata R. Br.
Carissa laxiflora Benth.
Carissa macrophylla Wall.
Carissa madagascariensis Thouars ex Poir.
Carissa obovata Markgr.
Carissa oleoides Markgr.
Carissa ovata R. Br.
Carissa paucinervia A. DC.
Carissa pilosa Schinz
Carissa pubescens A. DC.
Carissa revoluta Scott-Elliot
Carissa richardiana Jaub. & Spach
Carissa scabra R. Br.
Carissa sechellensis Baker
Carissa suavissima Bedd. ex Hook. f.
Carissa tomentosa A. Rich.
Carissa villosa Roxb.
Carissa xylopicron Thouars
Carissa yunnanensis Tsiang & P. T. Li
Jasminonerium dulce (Schumach. & Thonn.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 414 (1891).
Jasminonerium pubescens (A. DC.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 414 (1891).
Jasminonerium sechellense (Baker) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 414 (1891).
Jasminonerium tomentosum (A. Rich.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 414 (1891).
Strychnos pungens Gagnep., Notul. Syst. (Paris) 14: 23 (1950), nom. illeg. non Solered. (1893).

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Continental: Africa
Egypt, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo (Brazzaville), Rwanda, D.R. Congo (Zaire), Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Socotra, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia (incl. Caprivi Strip), South Africa (Limpopo, Mpulamanga), Aldabra, Comores (Mayotte, etc.), Mauritius, Madagascar, La Reunion, Rodrigues, Seychelles, Oman
Continental: Asia-Temperate
Egypt (SE-Egypt), Saudi Arabia (C-Saudi Arabia, Hejaz, Asir), Yemen (Tihama, W-Yemen), China (Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan),
Continental: Asia-Tropical
Bangladesh, India (throughout drier parts), Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, New Guinea, Java, Burma, Sri Lanka, Moluccas, Andaman Isl. (South Andaman Isl.), Nicobar Isl. (Car Nicobar Isl.), Pakistan (Swat, Hazara, Murree, Pakistani Punjab, etc.), Jammu & Kashmir, ?peninsular Malaysia
Continental: Australasia
Regional: Australia
Australia (Northern Territory, Queensland, N-Western Australia)

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References

Linnaeus, C., 1771. Mantissa Plantarum. Generum Editionis vi et Specierum Editionis ii. 2:559.

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2018. Carissa spinarum in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2018 Oct. 16. Reference page.
Hassler, M. 2018. Carissa spinarum. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2018. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published online. Accessed: 2018 Oct. 16. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2018. Carissa spinarum. Published online. Accessed: Oct. 16 2018.
The Plant List 2013. Carissa spinarum in The Plant List Version 1.1. Published online. Accessed: 2018 Oct. 16.
Tropicos.org 2018. Carissa spinarum. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 16 Oct. 2018.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Carissa spinarum in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 07-Oct-06.

Vernacular names
Gĩkũyũ: Mũkawa
සිංහල: හීන් කරඹ

Carissa spinarum, the conkerberry or bush plum, is a large shrub of the dogbane family (Apocynaceae), widely distributed in tropical regions of Africa, Southern Asia, Australia, and various islands of the Indian Ocean.[1] It is most well known in Australia, where it is also called currant bush or, more ambiguously, native currant or even black currant. It is, however, neither closely related to plums (Prunus) nor to true currants (Ribes), which belong to entirely different lineages of eudicots. In India, it is also called wild karanda /wild karavanda, referring to the related karanda (C. carandas). Carissa spinarum is often discussed under its many obsolete synonyms (see below).
Foliage of the small-leaved "ovata" type

It grows as a multi-stemmed shrub, 0.5 to 3 metres in height. The leaves are glossy green, opposite, narrow ovate to lanceolate and 1–5 cm in length. The branches bear thorns of 1–3 cm length. White, star-shaped flowers ~1 cm across are followed by ovate green berries, 1–2 cm in length, which turn black or dark purple when ripe.

Ecology

Carissa spinarum is most often found in semiarid coastal regions on fine-textured soils such as clays and clay-loams; in more arid regions the plant tends to be confined to areas of higher moisture such as at the base of hills or floodout areas. But it has a high ecological tolerance and can live in a wide range of habitats. In Australia for example, it is often found in association with Eucalyptus brownii, poplar box (E. populnea), gidgee (Acacia cambagei) or brigalow (A. harpophylla), in coastal rainforest, gallery forest and vine thickets in regions receiving in excess of 900 mm annual rainfall, as well as softwood scrubs and open eucalypt savannas receiving less than 700 mm annual rainfall.

Conkerberries are edible, but only when fully ripe; they have a sweet flavour, but the milky sap of this plant – and its unripe fruit – is poisonous, as typical for the Apocynaceae. They are a popular bush tucker food for Australian Aborigines in Central Australia. The fruit is known as merne arrankweye in the Arrernte language, anwekety in Anmatyerr and nganango in Pintupi. The fruits are also a popular food for the Australian bustard, emu and many other birds in its range. Its leaves provide food for butterflies (e.g. Australian crow, Euploea core) and moths (e.g. some hawkmoths)

Carissa spinarum is frequently a weed in grazing land in northern Australia, choking out grasses, reducing the ability of livestock to feed, interfering with stock handling and providing a refuge for vermin. The plant is capable of reproducing rapidly by layering and is difficult to control mechanically and expensive to manage with herbicides. On the other hand, it has been used in attempts to restore small-bird habitat in disturbed dry rainforest in Queensland, Australia.

Parts of the plant are used medicinally for joint and muscle pain by the Maasai people of Kenya.[2]
Synonyms

Well known for its fruit to locals and quite variable across its wide range and diverse habitat types, the conkerberry has been described time and again by botanists under a number of names. Robert Brown alone described it no less than four times under different names, and R.H. Beddome not only described it twice as a "new species" of Carissa, but believed two other growth-forms of it to be mere varieties of Karonda (C. carandas). The 1889 book 'The Useful Native Plants of Australia records the plant under the name Carissa Ovata and says "This little bush produces a very pleasant fruit, which is both agreeable and wholesome. It is like a sloe, egg-shaped, and about half-an-inch long. It exudes a viscid milky juice and contains a few woody seeds. "I can testify that the fruit is both agreeable and wholesome, and I never knew an instance of any evil consequences, even when they were partaken of most abundantly." (Tenison-Woods, Vol. vii., 571., Proc. Lirin. Soc. N.S.W.)".[3]

But in fact, C. spinarum was already named by Carl Linnaeus in his 1771 Mantissa Plantarum, and thus all subsequent names are treated as junior synonyms. In Myanmar, it is known as Burmese: ခံစပ်; MLCTS: hkang sap.[4]

The following list gives the names under which the conkerberry has been placed in Carissa. Apart from that, it has also been assigned, under various names, to Antura and Arduina (both now synonymized with Carissa), as well as Azima, Cabucala, Chapelieria, Damnacanthus, Strychnos, Carandas, and Jasminonerium.[5]
"Edulis"-type habitus
"Ovata"-type habitus

Carissa abyssinica R.Br.
Carissa africana A.DC.
Carissa axillaris Roxb.
Carissa brownii F.Muell.
Carissa campenonii (Drake) Palacky
Carissa candolleana Jaub. & Spach
Carissa carandas var. congesta (Wight) Bedd.
Carissa carandas var. paucinervia (A.DC.) Bedd.
Carissa cochinchinensis Pierre ex Pit.
Carissa comorensis (Pichon) Markgr.
Carissa congesta Wight
Carissa coriacea Wall.
Carissa cornifolia Jaub. & Spach
Carissa dalzellii Bedd.
Carissa densiflora Baker
Carissa diffusa Roxb.
Carissa dulcis Schumach. & Thonn.
Carissa edulis (Forssk.) Vahl

C. edulis var. septentrionalis is probably a valid species, Carissa septentrionalis

Carissa hirsuta Roth
Carissa horrida Pichon
Carissa inermis Vahl
Carissa lanceolata R.Br.
Carissa laxiflora Benth.
Carissa macrophylla Wall.
Carissa madagascariensis Thouars ex Poir.
Carissa obovata Markgr.
Carissa oleoides Markgr.
Carissa ovata R.Br.
Carissa paucinervia A.DC.
Carissa pilosa Schinz
Carissa pubescens A.DC.
Carissa revoluta Scott-Elliot
Carissa richardiana Jaub. & Spach
Carissa scabra R.Br.
Carissa sechellensis Baker
Carissa suavissima Bedd. ex Hook.f.
Carissa tomentosa A.Rich.
Carissa villosa Roxb.
Carissa xylopicron Thouars
Carissa yunnanensis Tsiang & P.T.Li

Footnotes

"World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew". apps.kew.org. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
Bussmann, R. W., et al. (2006). Plant use of the Maasai of Sekenani Valley, Maasai Mara, Kenya. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 2 22.
J. H. Maiden (1889). The useful native plants of Australia : Including Tasmania. Turner and Henderson, Sydney.
"Plants of Myanmar Checklist". botany.si.edu. Retrieved 7 August 2017.

Tropicos.org [2009]

References

Tropicos.org [2009]: Synonyms of Carissa spinarum L.. Retrieved 2009-NOV-26.