Memecylon edule is a small evergreen tree native to India especially the Deccan Plateau including most of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and parts of Tamil Nadu, Thailand, Malay Peninsula, Singapore and Borneo.

The tree is small and grows between 3–7 metres tall; it has a thin, greyish brown bark.

These flowers are arranged in a spiky, spherical inflorescence that people compare to the shape of a coronavirus.

[3] Each blossom is a regular hermaphrodite with petals as many as calyx lobes inserted on the mouth of its limb, its stamens are shorter in the alternate and may be seriate.

The fruit is a fleshy capsule or berry with about a centimeter long, it appears green, turning red or pink, then yellow, and later black as it ripens.