Botany
The plant is an erect, branched, nearly smooth shrub or small tree, 3 to 8 meters high, usually with a few stout spines on the trunk and branches. Leaves are elliptic, 4 to 8 cm long, entire, usually rounded or blunt at the apex and pointed at the base, and smooth beneath. Flowers are borne in short, terminal racemes, each subtended by a large, pale-green bract. The calyx is green, about 5 mm long. Corolla is yellow, about 4 cm long. Fruit is fleshy, smooth, yellow, pear-shaped, about 2 cm long.

Distribution
In thickets and secondary forests at low and medium altitudes.

Parts utilized
Fruit, roots.

Uses
Folkloric
• Juice of fruit applied to portions of the feet affected by "alipunga," a kind of eczema.
• Fruit of juice is also considered an "anti-limatik" (a species of leech of the genus Haemadipsa).
• Fruit poultice pounded with lime, applied to the throat, for coughs.
• Mixture of the fruit with lime and garlic vigorously applied to the body in cases of dropsy.
• In India, traditionally used for diabetes. Also, used for dandruff - fruit juice applied every three days in the morning externally on the scalp.

Studies
• Antipyretic: Study of eight Pakistani medicinal plants showed Gmelina asiatica roots exhibited prominent oral antipyretic activity.
• Antimicrobial: (1) C. viscosa and G. asiatica were tested for antimicrobial activity. The ethanolic extracts of the roots of G asiatica exhibited a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity, esp against E coli, P vulgaris and P aeruginosa. (2) Study showed the aqueous extract to be active against P. pseduoalcaligenes, while the methanol extract could inhibit B subtilis.

Availability
Wild-crafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Antipyretic studies on some indigenous Pakistani medicinal plants: II / M Ikram et al / Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Vol 19, Issue 2, March-April 1987, Pages 185-192 / doi:10.1016/0378-8741(87)90040-7
(2)
Evaluation of antimicrobial activity of Cleome viscosa and Gmelina asiatica / Sudhakar M et al / Fitoterapia. 2006 Jan;77(1):47-9. Epub 2005 Dec 1.
(3)
Efficacy of Aqueous and Methanol Extracts of Some Medicinal Plants for Potential Antibacterial Activity / Jigna Parekh et al / Turk J Biol, 29 (2005) 203-210
(4)
ETHNOMEDICINAL PLANTS USED BY THE VALAIYAN COMMUNITY OF PIRANMALAI HILLS (RESERVED FOREST), TAMILNADU, INDIA. - A PILOT STUDY / B Sandhya, S Thomas et al / Afr. J. Trad. CAM (2006) 3 (1): 101 - 114