Bitterroot Restoration

Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Common name: Phalsa, Sakri(Beng.).
Life cycle: Perennial
Native Range: Grewia asiatica native to southern Asia from Pakistan east to Cambodia, and widely cultivated in other tropical countries.

Grewia asiatica is a shrub or small tree growing to 8 m tall. Their leaves are broadly rounded, 5-18 cm long and broad, with a petiole 1-1.5 cm long. Their flowers are produced in cymes of several together, the individual flowers about 2 cm diameter, yellow, with five large (12 mm) sepals and five smaller (4-5 mm) petals. Their fruit is an edible drupe 5-12 mm diameter, purple to black when ripe.

Grewia asiatica has great medicinal uses as well; their fruit is astringent and stomachic. When unripe, it alleviates inflammation and is administered in respiratory, cardiac and blood disorders, as well as in fever. It is rich in vitamin C and also is a good source for anti-oxidants.