Thottea siliquosa (Lam.) Ding Hou

 

Family: Aristolochiaceae

Synonym: Apama laurifolia Raf., Apama siliquosa Lam.

Vernacular name: Alpam, Karelvegam, Kodaashari, Kuttivayana, Thavasimuringa

Habit: Shrub

Habitat: Evergreen and semi-evergreen forests

Distribution: Peninsular India and Sri Lanka

Flowering and Fruiting: November-December.

Key identification features: Shrubs, branchlets angled. Flowers in axillary fascicles, 1-5 together, yellow or brown, Capsule cylindrical; seeds  trigonous, rugose.

Uses: The root help to promote the healing of chronic sores and ulcers. Used for snakebite.

Aristolochia indica L.

 

Family: Aristolochiaceae

Synonym Aristolochia indica var. lanceolata (Wight) Duch.

Vernacular name: Eshwaramulla, Garudakodi, Kadalivegam, Karalakam

Habit: Climber

Habitat: Open dry deciduous forests and scrub jungles

Distribution: India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Malesia

Flowering and Fruiting: July-February

Key identification features: It is a glabrous shrub or herbaceous perennial plant. It features a woody rootstock and long, slender, grooved, glabrous branches. Flowers in few flowered axillary racemes. Perianth-tube is greenish-white, limb purple or brown. Capsule oblong or globose, pendulous. Seeds are winged.

Uses: The powdered roots are used as a tonic, carminative, stomachic and emmenagogue, used in the treatment of colic, gastritis, enteritis, food poisoning, rheumatism, oedema and dysmenorrhoea.