Cissampelos pareira L.
Family
Menispermaceae
Synonyms
None
Vernacular Names
| Indonesia | Mangaloke (Moluccas). |
| Philippines | Sansau (Tagalog), sampare (Bisaya), kalaad (Iloko). |
| Thailand | Khong khamao (Northern), khruea ma noi (Eastern), krung khamao (Peninsular). |
| Vietnam | D[aa]y m[oos]i, m[oos]i tr[of]n, ti[ees]t d[ee]. |
Geographical Distributions
Cissampelos pareira var. hirsuta (Buch.-Ham. ex DC.) Forman occurs in Malesia. In Asia, it is found from Nepal and India, through Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, southern China, Thailand and Malesia (but is not known from Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Java), to Australia (Queensland).
Description
C. pareira is a dioecious scandent shrub with woody older stems and slender leafy stems, which is smooth to densely pubescent.
The leaves are arranged spirally, simple and entire, broadly ovate, measuring 4.5-11 cm x 4.5-12 cm, with rounded, truncate or cordate at the base and acuminate to obtuse at the apex, mucronate at the tip, hairy below, sparsely pubescent above and palmately 5-7-veined. The pubescent petiole is 2-9 cm long. The stipules are absent.
The male inflorescence is an axillary subcorymbose peduncled cyme, measures 2-4 cm long and solitary or a few together while the female inflorescence is an axillary, thyrsoid, narrow, measures up to 18 cm long and composed of a pseudoraceme of fascicles with accrescent suborbicular bracts. The flowers are unisexual while the pedicel measures up to 2 mm long. The male flower is greenish or yellowish with 4 hairy sepals outside, a cupule-shaped petal and completely fused stamens and with 4 anther-cells. The female flower is with one sepal, one petal and one hairy carpel which having a thick style with divaricately 3-lobed stigma.
The fruit is a pubescent, orange to red drupe, measures about 5 mm long and curved with style-scar near the base. The endocarp is with 2 dorsal rows of very prominent transverse ridges.
The seed is horseshoe-shaped. The embryo is elongate, narrow and embedded in endosperm while the cotyledons are flattened.
Ecology / Cultivation
C. pareira occurs in primary and secondary forests, in bamboo forests in Thailand, and also in thickets, up to 1300 m altitude. It climbs over trees and river banks.
Line Drawing / Photograph
Read More
1) Safety
References
- Plant Resources of South-East Asia No. 12(1): Medicinal and poisonous plants 1.
