Herbarium JCB

Hemidesmus indicus (L.) R.Br.

Family : ASCLEPIADACEAE
Family (As per The Plant List) : Apocynaceae
Species : Hemidesmus indicus
Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Hemidesmus indicus (L.) R. Br. ex Schult.
Common name : Indian Sarasaparilla
Vernacular name : Sariva (San.); Antamul (Hin.); Namada beru, Nannari beru, Sugandhi beru, Sogade beru, Anantha beru (Kan.)
Collection Nos : Stevens 490, Stevens 761, CJS 9084, J.Koshy 12
Key identification features : A straggler with milky latex. Leaves are simple, opposite decussate, narrow or broadly oblong, glabrous above, often streaked with white lines. Flowers (about 5 cm. across) are crowded in subsessile cymes. Calyx lobes 5, ovate, acute. Corolla is greenish outside, purple inside with a short tube and spreading lobes. Fruit is a follicle and seeds are with brownish-white hairs.
Habit : Climber
Native : India, Sri Lanka
Comments : Roots are fleshy and aromatic, considered as blood-purifier.
Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
Distribution Locality : Bangalore, Bellary, Bidar, Davanagere, Gulbarga, Hassan, Kolar, Mysore, Raichur, Tumkur, Udupi
Floras referred : Saldanha & Nicolson, 1976 - Hassan; Gowda, 2004 - Sringeri; Ramaswamy & Razi, 1973 - Bangalore; Seetharam et al., 2000 - Gulbarga; Rao & Razi, 1981 - Mysore; Keshava Murthy & Yoganarasimhan, 1990 - Coorg; Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2003 - Udupi; Manjunath et al., 2003 - Davanagere; Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2014 - Flora of South Kanara