An annual climber growing to 1m. Stems yellow or often with purplish spots, slightly stout, 1-2 mm in diam., many branched. Inflorescences spicate, ca. 3 cm; bracts and bracteoles scalelike, broadly ovate, ca. 2 mm. Flowers subsessile. Calyx cupular, ca. 2 mm, deeply divided; sepals ovate to circular, equal or unequal, purplish tuberculate abaxially, apex acute. Corolla pink or greenish white, campanulate to tubular, 3-7 mm, shallowly 5-lobed; lobes erect or reflexed, ovate-triangular, much shorter than tube, apex obtuse. Stamens inserted at throat; anthers yellow, ovate-circular; filaments very short or absent; scales oblong, fimbriate, reaching middle of tube. Ovary globose, smooth. Style 1, longer than or as long as ovary; stigma elongated. Capsule ovoid, ca. 5 mm, circumscissile near base. Seeds 1-3, brown, 2-2.5 mm, smooth.

Aphrodisiac, demulcent, diaphoretic, hepatic and tonic (seed)

Plants For A Future
Flora of China

A sweet, pungent herb that acts mainly as a liver and kidney stimulant. A decoction of the seed is used to treat a variety of complaints including diarrhoea, vaginal discharge, enuresis, backache, constipation and impotence. The young shoots are used to treat sore eyes.

Contraindicated in patients with excess fire due to Yin deficiency and with constipation.

Jing-Nuan Wu. An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica. P: 236, Oxford University Press, Inc.2005.