Tinospora capillipes seed

LATIN NAME: Tinospora capillipes

COMMON NAME: Tinospora

The tinospora is a handsome, twining, woody climbing vine of the warm forests, and its fine, heart-shaped or arrow-shaped leaves and its small, inconspicuous, greenish flowers, followed by the small, round, red or orange, fleshy fruits, have made it a treasured and fine plant of the region. It grows as a twining, woody climbing vine, reaching up to several metres or more, with the slender, twining, climbing stems bearing the alternate, heart-shaped or arrow-shaped, pointed, long-stalked leaves and, through the warm months, the small, inconspicuous, greenish flowers in the small clusters, followed by the small, round, red or orange, fleshy, few-seeded fruits. It is a species of the flowering vine in the moonseed family, and it is native to the warm forests of the eastern Asia, while it is prized for its long history of traditional use, and it is known as the tinospora.

In the moonseed family it is the heart-leaved climber of the warm forests, a vine the traditional practice of the east has held in regard for the ages.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The tinospora roots and stems are a familiar subject in the traditional plant chemistry of the eastern Asia, and the constituents have been examined with the greatest care by the researchers across the world. The botanists have mapped its place in the moonseed family and the warm forest flora, and the horticulturists have grown the heart-leaved, twining form for the warm garden and the trellis. The plant is best appreciated as a subject of study rather than a casual remedy, and the growers of the warm-region vines keep it in their catalogues.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the warm garden, the tinospora is the heart-leaved climber of the shaded trellis. Its small flowers feed the insects, its red or orange, fleshy fruits feed the birds, and the twining, leafy growth gives cover and shelter along the wall. The traditional use of the region keeps the plant in the old practice, and it grows well in the rich, moist, well-drained ground of the sheltered spot. Heart-leaved, red-fruited and long-valued.

Soak the seeds in lukewarm water for a short while, then sow them at a shallow depth in pots of rich, open, free-draining compost, keep the pots warm and evenly moist in a bright, sheltered spot, and the first shoots will appear in their own good time.