A small shrub 30 centimeters to 2 meters in height, prostrate, erect, or climbing in habit. Leaves are ovate or lanceolate, 2 to 7 centimeters long, 1 to 2 centimeters wide, pointed at the tip rounded or somewhat heart-shaped and 3 to 6 millimeters long, with 5 blunt, recurved lobes about 1.5 millimeters long. Flowers are solitary or in racemes, bell-shaped, with a five-lobed corolla. Fruit is a capsule, rounded, and 4 to 7 millimeters in diameter, the edible portion is the dark-blue, fleshy, enlarged calyx. Seeds are numerous.

Stomachic (decoction of leaves).

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Plants For A Future

A decoction of the rhizomes is used to resolve clots and bruising, stimulate blood circulation and promote bone-knitting and tissue repair. It is used in the treatment of liver cirrhosis, ascites, traumatic injuries, rheumatoid arthritis and pains in the joints and back.