• Family : MENISPERMACEAE
  (Moonseed Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : GILOY FAMILY (गिलोय फैमिली
• Family (as per The APG System III) : MENISPERMACEAE
• Basionym : Menispermum cordifolium Willd.
• Synonym(s) : Tinospora malabarica (Lam.) Hook. f. & Thomson
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Tinospora sinensis (Lour.) Merr.
• Common name : Heartleaf Moonseed, Gulbel, Tinospora, Moon creeper, Bile killer
• Vernacular name : Gulache, Gulbel, Guleh, Jawantika, Gileya, Amritha (Hindi); Amruthaballi (Kannada); Chinthilkodi, Sallaikkodi (Tamil); Tippatiga, Somida, Amruthavalli (Telugu); Gulachi, Gulochi, Guluchilata, Tihadi (Oria); Gudusi (Sanskrit); Gulvel (Marathi); Amruthu, Amrutavalli, Chitamruthu, Siddamirth (Malayalam)
• Habit : Climbing shrub
• Habitat : Upto 1000m in moist deciduous forests and scrub jungles ; also in plains
• Comments / notes : Cultivated for it’s medicinal value
• Flower, Fruit : Throughout the year
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Anantapur district, Chittoor district, Kadapa district, East Godavari district, Guntur district, Krishna district, Kurnool district, Nellore district, Prakasam district, Srikakulam district, Vishakapatnam district, Vizianagaram district, West Godavari district
  • Telangana : Nalgonda district, Khammam district, Mehboobnagar district
  • Karnataka : Ballari district, Chamarajanagar district, Kolar district
  • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
  • Maharashtra : Akola district, Nagpur district; also planted
  • Odisha : Angul district, Balasore district, Bargarh district, Bolangir district, Boudh district, Cuttack district, Deogarh district, Dhenkanal district, Gajapati district, Ganjam district, Kalhandi district, Kandhamal district, Kendrapara district, Keonjhar district, Khurda district, Koraput district, Malkangiri district, Mayurbhanj district, Puri district, Rayagada district,Sambalpur district, Sundergarh district
  • Tamil Nadu : Coimbatore district, Dindigul district, Dharmapuri district, Kanchipuram (Changalpattu-CGP) district, Karur district, Krishnagiri district, Madurai district, Namakkal district, Pudukkottai district, Sivaganga district, Salem district, Tiruchirapalli district, Tiruvannamalai district, Villipuram district, Vellore district
• Native : Indian subcontinent
• World Distribution : India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : Pullaiah et al., 2002 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 1; J.L.Ellis, 1987- Flora of Nallamalais Vol. 1; H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1994- Flora of Orissa Vol. 1; R. S. Rao et al., 1986 - Flora of West Godavari District; R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District; N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka; Matthew, K.M., Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1983). Flora of Tamil Nadu, India vol. 1; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Tinospora cordifolia. Downloaded on 21 November 2024.

Botanical Description

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