Changalmparanda

Scientific Name :

Cissus quadrangularis L.

Synonym(s) :

Vitis quadrangularis (L.) Wall. ex Wight

Local/Common name(s) :

Changalmparanda

Family :

Vitaceae

Habit :

Climber

Flowering/Fruiting Time :

June-January

Habitat :

Dry deciduous forests, also in the plains

Endemic :

No

Status (IUCN) :

Distribution :

Widespread in the drier parts of Africa, Arabia and Indo-Malaysia

Nativity :

Indigenous

Uses :

Description (Morphology) :

Rambling, succulent, glabrous, deciduous shrubs; stem 4-angular, winged or ridged at angles, constricted at nodes; tendril simple. Leaves simple, entire or 3-lobed, 2-5 x 2-5 cm, ovate-suborbicular or subreniform, base truncate, margin distantly spinulose-crenate, apex obtuse, thick-coriaceous; petiole to 1 cm long. Flowers in leaf-opposed, peduncled, umbellate cymes. Calyx-tube obscurely 4-lobed, c. 2 mm long, reddish. Petals c. 2.5 mm long, ovate, acute, greenish-yellow, recurved. Stamens 4; filaments to 2 cm long; anthers yellow. Disk 4-lobed, yellow. Ovary c. 1mm long, 2-celled; ovules 2 per cell. Berry c. 7 mm across, subglobose. Seeds black, smooth.