ATTERIYA (Murraya paniculata)

Murraya paniculata, commonly known as orange jasmine, orange jessamine, china box or mock orange, is a species of shrub or small tree in the family Rutaceae and is native to South Asia, Southeast Asia and Australia. It has smooth bark, pinnate leaves with up to seven egg-shaped to elliptical leaflets, fragrant white or cream-coloured flowers and oval, orange-red berries containing hairy seeds.

Murraya paniculata is a tree that typically grows to a height of 7 m (23 ft) but often flowers and forms fruit as a shrub, and has smooth pale to whitish bark. It has pinnate leaves up to 170 mm (6.7 in) long with up to seven egg-shaped to elliptical or rhombus-shaped. The leaflets are glossy green and glabrous, 25–100 mm (0.98–3.94 in) long and 12–50 mm (0.47–1.97 in) wide on a petiolule 2–6 mm (0.079–0.236 in) long. The flowers are fragrant and are arranged in loose groups, each flower on a pedicel 1–1.5 mm (0.039–0.059 in) long. There are five (sometimes four) sepals about 1 mm (0.039 in) long and five (sometimes four) white or cream-coloured petals 13–18 mm (0.51–0.71 in) long. Flowering occurs from June to March (in Australia) and the fruit is an oval, glabrous, orange-red berry 12–14 mm (0.47–0.55 in) long containing densely hairy seeds.

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