Morphological information

An immense climber with wide spreading stem up to 1.2 m girth. Bark somewhat rough, dark reddish brown or blackish. Blaze tough and fibrous, bright pink with white or yellowish bands slowly turning orange brown on exposure. Branchlets often terminating in a pair of revolute tendrils. Young parts fulvous or rusty, tomentose. Leaves cleft 2.5- 9 cm measured from the base of the cleft to the tangent to the 2 lobes, base deeply cordate, 10- 45 cm long by about as broad, glabrescent above when mature, more or less densely tomentose beneath, base 11- 15 nerved. Petiole 7.5- 15 an long, stout, tomentose. Flowers 3.8- 5 cm across, while turning buff as they fade in peduncled corymbose terminal densely tomentose racemes. Pedicels 2.5- 6.3 cm long. Pod 23- 30 by 5- 7.5 cm flat, woody, rusty, velvety. Seeds 6- 12, sub orbicular, 2.5 cm diameter flat, dark brown, polished.

Flowering            : April - June

Fruiting               : April- June

History               :

Parts                  : Leaves, seeds.

Status                : Low risk.

Phytochemistry

Quercitroside, isoquercitroside and rutoside isolated from plant; Kaempferol glycosides also present in flowers (Plant Med. Phytother 1977, 11, 213; Chem. Abstr. 1978, 88, 148934).

 

Medicinal

The seed possesses tonic and aphrodisiac properties. Leaves are demulcent and mucilaginous.

 

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