Azima tetracantha
Synonyms: Azima nova; Azima spinosissima; Fagonia montana; Monetia barlerioides.
Name: Bee Sting Bush.
Region: Africa: Somalia, Uganda, Kenya and Angola, south Africa, Madagascar; Arabia to India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.
Botany: evergreen shrub, ± 2m tall; much-branched, spiny, erect, arching branches, sometimes climbing habit; spines axillary, in pairs, 4 cm long; fruit globose green to white berry around ± 7 mm in diameter, containing 1 - 2 seeds; habitat mangrove edges, sea-dunes, coastal bushland, not far from high-water mark; scrub on eroded ground, saline or alkaline soils, near lakes and seasonal rivers; rocky bushy maritime hilly places, elevations up to 1100 metres.
Uses: fruit, raw; ornamental; hedges, fences; fuel wood because the smoke is considered poisonous.
Content: dimeric piperidine alkaloids azimine, azcarpin, carpaine; glucosinolates: hydrolyzed into thiocyanates and isothiocyanates; Terpenoids; 25 flavonoids, glycosides, acyl-glycosides, quercetin, isorhamnetin, rhamnetin, rhamnazin; fatty acids: myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, arachidic acid, behenic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, eicosenoic acid.
Sources
African Flowering Plants Database; http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/recherche.php; Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques.
Flora of Somalia; Thulin M.; Kew Publishing, London;1993.
Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement); Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C.; Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi;1986.
Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants; http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336.
Plants for a Future; Ken Fern.
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa; http://www.prota.org.
Flora Malesiana Series 1; http://www.archive.org; Nationaal Herbarium Nederiand, Universiteit Leiden.