An annual herb. Stems twining, reaching 12 feet in length, slender, cylindrical, hairy with rather long deflexed hairs, branched. Leaves alternate, on very long hairy stalks, without stipules, blade variable in size and form, usually 2 to 3 inches long and about the same in width, deeply cordate at the base, more or less deeply cut into 3 acute lobes, margin entire, dark green, pale beneath, hairy, drowny or nearly smooth.

The seed is anthelmintic, diuretic, antifungal and laxative; hypoglycemic (in rats) (plant); toxic to mice; anthelmintic, anticholinergic, antifungal, antispasmodic, antitumour, diuretic and laxative (seeds)

Plants for a Future
PIER

Chanoclavine, penniclavine, lysergol, isopenniclavine, pharbitisin and elymoclavine (seed).

It is used in the treatment of oedema, oliguria, ascariasis and constipation. The seed contains small quantities of the hallucinogen LSD. This is used medicinally in the treatment of various mental disorders.

Chandel et al., Biodiversity in Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in India.