in its natural form and is processed further. It is candied in sugar or pickled in salt, used in chutney, relish or preserves. In the Philippines, it is used to make vinegar as well as eaten raw, soaked in salt or vinegar-salt solution and sold along the roadside. It is candied as well, usually stored in jars with syrup. They make these into a syrup in Malaysia. Liberally sugared, it is also used to make fruit juice. In Thailand it is used as an ingredient to make Som tam, to make pickled, boil in syrup (Ma-Yom Chuam). The plant is also used medicinally. The peppered leaves are used to make a poultice to treat sciatica, lumbago and rheumatism (but have been observed to cause low blood pressure when combined with nitrates), while the seeds are used as a cathartic and the root, if prepared with care, as a purgative. The syrup is used to medicate the stomach, and in India the fruit is eaten as a blood-enhancer for the liver; a lehyam, nellikai lekiyam, for which the salient ingredient is gooseberry fruit, is offered to children to boost their immunity. P. acidus contains 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, caffeic acid, adenosine, kaempferol and hypogallic acid. While the wood is strong and durable if properly treated, the tree is not large and is rarely harvested for wood. If harvested, it is used for small objects such as utensils. In India, the root bark is sometimes used as a tanning agent. References External links acidus Berries Flora of tropical Asia Flora of the Caribbean Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus