Native to tropical Asia, Madagascar, India to Australia. Common in open places, always flowering. Species very variable. Greek-  melas (black) stoma (mouth), from the berries blackening the tongue. This is a weed found wild in abandoned clearings, waste ground, disturbed sites. An evergreen shrub, up to 2 m tall. Its minute seeds are dispersed by birds and water. forms dense thickets in pastures and rangelands Always flowering, the fruit a berry-like capsule with numerous seeds coated with red, sweet astringent pulp. Young leaves are eaten raw or cooked and taste sour. The pulp around the seeds are tasteless and can be eaten. The seeds are used to produce a black dye, the roots -a pink dye. Leaves has multiple uses. Can be fed to silkworms, used to treat diarrhea and dysentery, wash for ulcers, to prevent scarring from smallpox and to treat piles.