Bark
Green-grey with warty, tuberculate outgrowths
Tinospora crispa
Syn. Menispermum crispum
IUCN Red List
Not Evaluated
(NE)
Local name
- Bitter vine (English)
Climber type
Evergreen
Deciduous
Family: Menispermaceae
Indicated uses
Medicinal
Edible
Ornamental
Avenue
Other
Flowering & fruiting
Flowering
Fruiting
Key characters
Leaves
Simple, alternate, ovate-cordate, 5-nerved, thin
Flower
Small, greenish-yellow, unisexual, in racemes on leafless branches
Fruit / Seeds
Red-orange drupes in clusters; curved seed
Did you know?
The warty (tuberculate) stem is its signature. Flora of India separates it from giloy (T. cordifolia): T. crispa has a tuberculate stem, usually 3 petals and an orange drupe with a larger stone (11 -13 mm), while T. cordifolia has a smooth stem, 6 petals and a red drupe. The stem holds bitter milky sap and long filamentous aerial roots.
Distribution
Indo-Malaya: north-east India, Bangladesh, SE Asia; uncommon in Gujarat