A climbing or scrambling, rarely creeping shrub that grows to a height of 3m. Stems are woody, clothed with short rusty or white woolly hairs, and armed with numerous prickles. Leaves are simple, spiral, and stipulate. Petiole is slender and spiny. Blade is 3- or 5-lobed, 3cm – 20cm × 2cm – 18cm, glabrous or sparsely hairy above, and densely white or rusty-colored and hairy below. Flowers are white or reddish-pink and arranged in racemes in the upper axils. Berries are about 1–1.3cm in diameter, red, and tasteless.
Herb Effects
abortifacient, astringent and emmenagogue (leaves); blood tonic (roots and leaves)
Used for dysentery and other internal complaints (decoction of the roots); used externally to the abdomen to mitigate abdominal pain (heated leaves); applied on sores to promote healing (leaves); to treat diarrhoea or dysentery (stem sap); for cough (roots and leaves); as a remedy for the nocturnal micturation of children (fruits).
Reference
Christophe Wiart. Medicinal Plants of Asia and the Pacific, P:127-128, CRC Press, June 2006