Phalsa

A large, scraggly shrub or small tree to 15 ft (4.5 m) or more, the phalsa has long, slender, drooping branches, the young branchlets densely coated with hairs. The alternate, deciduous, widely spaced leaves are broadly heart-shaped or ovate, pointed at the apex, oblique at the base, up to 8 in (20 cm) long and 6 1/2 in (16.25 cm) wide, and coarsely toothed, with a light, whitish bloom on the underside. Small, orange-yellow flowers are borne in dense cymes in the leaf axils. The round fruits, on 1-in (2.5 cm) peduncles are produced in great numbers in open, branched clusters. Largest fruits are 1/2 to 5/8 in (1.25-1.6 cm) wide. The skin turns from green to purplish-red and finally dark-purple or nearly black. It is covered with a thin, whitish bloom and is thin, soft and tender. The soft, fibrous flesh is greenish-white stained with purplish-red near the skin and becoming suffused with this color as it progresses to overripeness. The flavor is pleasantly acid, somewhat grapelike. Large fruits have 2 hemispherical, hard, buff-colored seeds 3/16 in (5 mm) wide. Small fruits are single-seeded.