Shrubs climbing. Stems terete, striate, densely white villous. Leaves big; petiole 6-8 cm, villous; leaf blade cordate to orbicular, 15-29 × 13-28 cm, leathery, both surfaces white villous, adaxially glabrescent, veins palmate, 2-3 pairs from base, base cordate, sinus 1-4.5 cm deep, apex obtuse or acute. Flowers axillary, solitary or paired; peduncle pendulous, 1.5-3 cm, glabrous; bractlets ovate-cordate or cordate, ca. 1 cm, inserted below middle of peduncle. Calyx limb purple, 4.5-5.5 cm; tube horseshoe-shaped, abaxially white hirsute; basal portion of tube 20-25 × 10-12 mm; limb discoid, 4-6 cm in diam., 3-lobed; lobes broadly deltoid. Anthers oblong, 2-3 mm; gynostemium 3-lobed. Capsule narrowly cylindric, 9-11 × 3-4 cm, dehiscing basipetally. Seeds deltoid-cordiform or cordiform, 6-7 × 6-7 mm, both surfaces slightly plano-convex, verrucose.

Lactagogue (decoction of stem); a circulatory stimulant (inner bark of the stem); diuretic and febrifuge (stem and shoots).

Earthnotes Herb Library
Flora of China

Aristolochic acid, hederagenin, and oleanolic acid (stem)

The stem is used in decoction for the treatment of gonorrhea and rheumatic or rheumatoid arthritis. The woody, inner bark of the stem is dried in the sun and has been used to treat diabetes, dropsy, fever, increase urine flow, induce menstruation.

Use with caution in pregnant women.

Jing-Nuan Wu. An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica. P: 100, Oxford University Press, Inc.2005.