Maclura cochinchinensis var. gerontogea("Kakatsugayu")
Japanese name: カカツガユ（和活柚） Scientific name:Maclura cochinchinensis var. gerontogea
[Overview]
An evergreen shrub seen at the edges of forests by the sea in warm regions.
The stem is erect, and the branches extend like vines and spread sideways.
The stem has thick, sharp thorns 1–2 cm long, which are modified lateral branches.
Young branches are rather densely covered with stiff short hairs.
Leaves are simple and alternate, obovate-oblong, 2–8 cm long and 1–3.5 cm wide, rather thick, hairless on both sides, with a somewhat rounded tip.
The leaf margin is entire, but leaves on young branches have 1–3 wavy teeth.
The petiole is short, and the stipules are very small.
It is dioecious; both male and female flowers are densely crowded in spherical head-like inflorescences arising from the leaf axils, and the tepals are thick.
The fruit is an achene; enclosed in the enlarged perianth, it forms a spherical aggregate fruit 1.5–2 cm across, which ripens orange-yellow.
