Phalsa is also called Falsa in India. It is a small berry. The fruits are purple in color and ripen on the tree. The tree can grow in a variety of soil conditions and climates and is drought resistant. A large, scraggly shrub or small tree to 15 ft (4.5 m) or more, the phalsa has long, slender, drooping branches, the young branchlets densely coated with hairs. Small, orange-yellow flowers are borne in dense cymes in the leaf axils. The skin turns from green to purplish-red and finally dark-purple or nearly black. It is covered with a thin, whitish bloom and is thin, soft and tender. The flavor is pleasantly acid, somewhat grapelike.