Tinospora cordifolia

• Botanical Name : Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Miers.
• Common Name : Gado, Gulbel, Indian Tinospora
• Plant Family : Menispermaceae
• Plant Form : Climbers
• Occurrence (Sectors) : 17
• Occurrence (Special Areas) : Indroda Park, Van Chetana Kendra

About Tinospora cordifolia Plant :

• Habit : An extensive climber with corky, grooved bark with adventitious aerial roots.
• Leaves : Thin 7-nerved, cordate with a broad sinus, venis reticulate, petiole long.
• Inflorescence : A raceme, longer than the leaves, axillary, terminal or from the old wood (cauliflorous).
• Flowers :
  • Yellow, the male fascicled, the female usually solitary.
  • Flowers appear when the plant is without leaves, pedicels slender, bracts lanceolate, the lower sometimes foliaceous.
  • Male flowers with sepals 3, outer small, ovate-oblong, acute, the 3 inner large, thin, sub-orbicular, concave.
  • Petals 6, each loosely embracing a stamen, claw wedge-shaped, limb trilobed and reflexed at the apex, stamens 6, free.
  • Female flowers  petals wedge-shaped, oblong with entire margins.
  • Ovaries 3, stigma forked.
• Fruit : A drupe, 1-3 convex, flat, red. Seeds thin and concave convex like a watch-glass.
• Flowering and Fruiting Time : April - May
• Significance :
  • The stems are used as a decoction for well-known tonic properties.
  • The oil expressed from the seeds is used in the treatment of tuberculosis of the lungs.
  • The dry stems powdered after drying in the shade are used to reduce high blood pressure.