This tropical shrub or small tree is Noni, Morinda citrifolia. It is also known as Indian Mulberry, Cheese Fruit and Great Morinda. It belongs to the coffee family, Rubiaceae, along with coffee, gardenia and Inkberry.

The species is native from tropical and subtropical Asia through northern Australia and many Pacific islands. People carried and cultivated it widely because of its usefulness, and it is now found throughout much of the tropical world.

Noni usually grows as a small, evergreen tree with a broad, irregular crown. It is remarkably tolerant of heat, salt spray, wind, poor soil and periods of drought, which allows it to grow close to tropical shorelines and in disturbed ground.

The leaves are large, glossy and dark green, with deeply impressed veins. They grow in opposite pairs and may appear almost polished when sunlight reflects from their surfaces.

The flowers are small, white and tubular. Many flowers are crowded together into a rounded head rather than appearing separately along the branch.

As those flowers are pollinated, their ovaries and surrounding tissues fuse together to create one compound fruit. The bumpy surface of a Noni fruit therefore marks the positions of many individual flowers.

The fruit begins green and gradually becomes pale yellow or almost translucent white as it ripens. Its surface is covered with small, eye-like depressions, and the soft flesh contains numerous hard seeds.

A ripe fruit develops a very strong smell, often compared with overripe cheese. That odor explains the common name Cheese Fruit and makes the fruit easy to detect even when it is hidden among the leaves.

Despite the smell, Noni fruit has a long history of use as food, especially during periods when more desirable crops were scarce. It has also been fermented or processed into drinks and other preparations.

The leaves, bark, roots and fruit have all been used in traditional medicine in Asia and the Pacific. The roots and bark also produced red and yellow dyes, while the wood was used for fuel and small practical objects. Kew records food, medicinal, social, environmental and fuel uses for the species.

Those traditional uses should not be taken as proof that every commercial Noni product is effective or suitable for everyone. The plant contains biologically active compounds, and concentrated preparations may interact with medications or be inappropriate for some people.

The seeds have air spaces that help them float, allowing the fruit or seeds to travel in water. This is one reason Noni is so well suited to island and coastal environments.

Noni is therefore a plant of striking contrasts: handsome glossy leaves, delicate white flowers and a fruit famous for an odor that many people find difficult to tolerate.

When presenting it to a group, the best feature to explain is the unusual fruit. What appears to be one lumpy fruit actually developed from an entire cluster of small flowers fused together.