Combretaceae

Native: India, Assam to Peninsula Malaysia.

Systematic Position

Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Streptophyta

Order: Myrtales

Family: Combretaceae

Common Names

English – Paper Flower Climber

Malayalam – പുല്ലാനി, പുല്ലാന്തി

Description: A large scandent shrub or liana. Young branches with dense brown pubescens. Leaves simple opposite with ovate to elliptic shape. Flowers in dense axillary raceme inflorescense that are crowded in dense panicles at branch tips. Fruit is a drupe with five spreading wings that are modified from the calyx.

Distribution:  India, Bangladesh, Indochina, Malay Peninsula, Myanmar, Thailand.

Uses: Root antidote for snakebite; leaves astringent, laxative, anthelmintic, used in colic and applied in ulcers, when ground and administered with butter, they are reported to cure dysentery and malaria fever.