About Ehretia microphylla Lam.
Ehretia microphylla Lam. is a shrub that grows up to 4 meters in height, with long, straggling, slender branches. It is deciduous, losing its leaves during the dry season. Its leaves typically measure 10–50 mm long and 5–30 mm wide, and can vary in size, texture, color, and margin. This species produces small white flowers 8–10 mm in diameter, with a 4–5 lobed corolla, followed by drupes 4–6 mm in diameter that ripen to a brownish orange color.
This plant is widely distributed across eastern and south-eastern Asia, ranging from India, Indochina, southern China, and Japan, through Malesia (including the Australian territory of Christmas Island) and New Guinea, to mainland Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the Solomon Islands. It has become an invasive weed in Hawaii, where it is grown as a popular ornamental plant, and its seeds are thought to be spread by fruit-eating birds. On Cape York Peninsula, it has been recorded growing in semi-evergreen vine thickets. On Christmas Island, it prefers dry terrace sites, and occasionally grows in rainforest.
In China, the plant is popular for use in penjing. In the Philippines, its leaves are used medicinally to treat cough, colic, diarrhea, and dysentery.
