Shrubs or small trees, unarmed, often aromatic. Leaves alternate, imparipinnate; rachis terete or occasionally marginate or winged; leaflets usually 5 - 11 or rarely 1 - 3 or, up to 35, alternate, oblique and often asymmetric (except terminal one). Inflorescences terminal and/or axillary, paniculate or racemose. Flowers subglobose to oblong in bud, fragrant. Calyx cupular; sepals small, green. Petals glandular, imbricate in buds, cream-white or pale yellowish. Stamens 8 or 10, alternately long and short, or subequal; filaments dilated below, subulate above, glabrous; anthers ovoid, oblong or rhombohedral, often glandular. Ovary entire or lobed, variously pubescent or glabrous, borne on a distinct gynophore, 2 - 5-locular, with usually 2 (sometimes 1) collateral or superimposed ovules per locule; gynophore usually hourglass shaped or cylindric, arising from an annular disk; style cylindric, short or long, or as long as ovary, blending with the ovary or clearly demarcated, caducous; stigma truncate or capitate. Fruit a berry, subglobose to oblong or ovoid, yellow or reddish or black when ripe, 2 - 5 locular, often 1-seeded; pericarp glandular; seeds green, aromatic.
Tropical Africa eastward to Australia through tropical and subtropical Asia and
Malasia; 15 species, 7 in India.
Literature.
MOLINO, J.F. 994. Revision du genre Clausena Burm. f. (Rutaceae). Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Paris 4 ser. 16. Section B, Adansonia 1: 105 - 153. STONE, B.C. & K.N. NAIR (1994), A new species of Clausena (Rutaceae) from India. Nord. j. Bot. 14: 491 - 493.
