Chakkarakolli
Scientific Name :
Gymnema sylvestre (Retz.). R. Br. ex Schult.
Synonym(s) :
Periploca sylvestris Retz.
Local/Common name(s) :
Chakkarakolli
Family :
Asclepiadaceae
Habit :
Climber
Flowering/Fruiting Time :
July-January
Habitat :
Moist and dry deciduous forests, also in the plains
Endemic :
Status (IUCN) :
Distribution :
Indo-Malaysia
Nativity :
Indigenous
Uses :
Medicine
Description (Morphology) :
Twining subshrubs, branchlets fulvous-tomentose. Leaves simple, opposite, 4-7 x 3-5 cm, elliptic to ovate or obovate, apex obtusely acute, base truncate or obtuse, subcoriaceous, densely tomentose below, nerves 3 pairs; petiole 1-3 cm long. Flowers 4 mm across in umbellate cymes, many together; peduncle to 1 cm long, hispid; pedicels 6 mm long, slender. Sepals 2 mm long, ovate. Corolla campanulate, yellow, 2.5 mm long, tube globose, lobes triangular. Corolline corona 5 vertical pairs of pubescent ridges. Gynostegium cylindrical. Follicles lanceolate, seeds 10 x 5 mm, much compressed.