CISSUS QUADRANGULARIS

Common name: Veldt Grape, Devil's Backbone • Assamese: harjora • Bengali: harbhanga, harjora •Hindi: hadjod, hadjora, jangli-angoor • Kannada: asthi samhaara, mangaravalli • Malayalam: cannalamparanta • Marathi: chaudhari, harsankar, kandavela • Oriya: hadasinkuda • Sanskrit: asthisamhari, asthisamhrta • Tamil: perandai • Telugu: gudametige, kokkitaya-ralu

Botanical name:   Cissus quadrangularis   

Family: Vitaceae (Grape family)

Synonyms: Cissus quadrangula, Cissus tetraptera, Vitis quadrangularis

Distribution Found throughout the hotter parts of India alongside hedges, neighboring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Shrilanka and Malaysia. It can be cultivated in plains coastal areas, jungles and wastelands up to 500m elevation. Plant is propagated using cuttings.

Introduction: Veldt Grape is a perennial shrub reaching a height of 1.5 m and has quadrangular-sectioned branches with internodes 8 to 10 cm long and 1.2 to 1.5 cm wide. Along each angle is a leathery edge (wing). Toothed trilobe leaves 2 to 5 cm wide appear at the nodes. Each has a tendril emerging from the opposite side of the node. Racemes of small white, yellowish, or greenish flowers; globular berries are red when ripe. It is probably native to India or Sri Lanka, but is also found in Africa, Arabia, and Southeast Asia.

Chemical constituents: Phytochemical studies on methanol extract revealed the presence of triterpenes including α- and β- amyrins, β-sitosterol, ketosteroids, phenols, tannins, carotene and vitamin C.

Medicinal uses: Veldt Grape has been used as a medicinal plant since antiquity. In siddha medicine it is considered a tonic and analgesic, and is believed to help heal broken bones, thus its name asthisamharaka (that which prevents the destruction of bones). The plant is believed to be useful in helminthiasis, anorexia, dyspepsia, colic, flatulence, skin diseases, leprosy, hemorrhage, epilepsy, convulsion, haemoptysis, tumors, chronic ulcers, swellings.

Traditional uses The roots and stems are most useful for healing of fracture of the bones. The stem is bitter; it is given internally and applied topically in broken bones, used in complaints of the back and spine. A paste of stem is useful for muscular pains.