is a deciduous shrub or small tree, belonging to the Rutaceae or Citrus family, and widespread in the Afrotropical realm or Sub-Saharan Africa, but absent from the drier regions.

It is also found in tropical and South-East Asia, growing in India and Sri Lanka and extending as far as Queensland in north-eastern Australia and some Pacific islands.

As with other plants useful to mankind its large range of medicinal properties has led to a global distribution and its growth wherever the climate is suitable.

This species is one of 25 in the genus Clausena, first described in 1768 by the Dutch botanist Nicolaas Laurens Burman, and named for the Norwegian clergyman, Peder Claussøn Friis (1545–1614), the translator of the Icelandic historian and poet, Snorri Sturluson.

Leaflets are 11–37 in number, alternate to sub-opposite, and ovate to narrowly elliptical in shape, with a markedly asymmetric, rounded or cuneate base.

[2] Analysis shows the presence of estragole, (E)-anethole, (E)-foeniculin, β-pinene, sabinene, (Z)-β-ocimene, germacrene B, (E)-β-ocimene and terpinen-4-ol, (Z)-tagetenone, (E)-tagetenone, (E)-nerolidol, germacrene D, methyl chavicol, myrcene, limonene, β-caryophyllene, 3-carene, β-humulene, coumarins of the furanocoumarin type - imperatorin, isoimperatorin, oxypeucedanine, bergaptene, xanthotoxin, xanthotoxol and chalepin, geranylcoumarin (anisocoumarin A–I), furanocoumarin-lactone type (indicolactone, anisolactone), the tetranortriterpenoids limonin, zapoterin, clausenolide, carbazole alkaloids furanoclausamine A and B, clausamine B, C, D and E, mukonal, glycosinine, mukonidine and clausine F, the pyranocarbazole alkaloid mupamine.

Five major essential oils from the leaf - β-pinene, sabinene, germacrene-D, estragole and linalool - are efficacious control agents of the larvae of Culex quinquefasciatus, Aedes aegypti and Anopheles stephensi.

Clausenol is active against a number of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and fungi, such as Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus parasiticus, Geotrichum candidum, Phytophthora palmivora and Penicillium citrinum.

Root decoctions and infusions are also taken for whooping cough, malaria, syphilis and kidney ailments, irregular menses, threatening abortion, skin diseases and epilepsy, and given to women before and after parturition to ease delivery and to expel blood from the uterus, and later to boost milk production.

Crushed leaves are used as an antiseptic and analgesic, and are applied to open wounds, mouth infections, otitis and abscesses, also burns, haemorrhoids, rheumatism and general body pains.