Tree, c. 6 m tall, with spines c. 15 mm long, single or paired. Leaves petiolate. sparsely white pubescent; leaflets 3-5, the lower 2 subsessibie, ovate-lanceolate, subcrenulate, obtuse. Flowers greenish-white, fragrant. Pedicels pubescent. Sepals c. 3 mm, pubescent, deciduous. Petals 13 mm, oblong, fleshy, spreading. Stamens c. 50, free or in fascicles, filaments subulate. Ovary 10-22-locular; stigma capitate. Fruit 5-10 cm in diameter, greenish-yellow or greenish, globose to pyriform; rind 3 mm thick; pulp pale orange, mucilaginous, aromatic. Seeds flat, oblong, densely woolly, embedded in transparent sticky gum.

Fl. Per.: May-June. Fr. Per.: November-December.

Type: Described from India.

Distribution: Sub-Himalayan tract, from Jhelum eastward, Salt Range and lower Baluchistan, Burma, Indo-China, at ± 1200 m alt.

The ‘bengal quince’ is frequently cultivated in the plains for its fruit. The pulp of fresh fruit can be used for making jams or sherbet. Dried pulp is used medicinally for the treatment for diarrhoea and dysentery. Also used in paints.