It is a large, glabrous, deciduous climbing shrub. The stems are rather succulent with long filiform fleshy aerial roots from the branches. The bark is grey-brown and warty; the leaves are membranous and cordate; the flowers, small, yellow or greenish yellow, in axillary and terminal racemes or racemose panicles; the male flowers clustered and females usually solitary; the drupes are ovoid, glossy, succulent, red and pea-sized; the seeds curved.

Antiperiodic, antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory and antipyretic.

Herbal Monograph

Tinsporine, tinosporide, tinosporaside, cordifolide, cordifol, heptacosanol, clerodane furano diterpene, diterpenoid furanolactone tinosporidine, columbin, and ß-sitosterol.

To treat fever (irregular and chronic), jaundice, thrist, vomiting, arthritis, skin diseases, cough, as rejuvenative for purifying breast-milk, eye diseases,secondary syphilis, rheumatism, constipation, tuberculosis, and leprosy. It is a blood purifier and may be useful in AIDS and other immune diseases also. It is also being proposed for cancer patients before and after chemotherapy.

Generally regarded as safe. Safety in young children, pregnant or nursing women, or those with severe liver or kidney disease is not known.