Uncaria tomentosa seed

LATIN NAME: Uncaria tomentosa

COMMON NAME: Cat’s Claw

The cat’s claw is the hooked vine of the warm forest, and the small, tubular flowers open in the round heads. The vigorous, woody, twining vine carries the oval, glossy leaves and the small, tubular, yellow-orange flowers in the round heads through the warm season, with the paired, claw-like spines along the stems, one of the fine, curious sights of the study collection. The bark and the roots have a very long record in the old practice of the warm lands, and the vine is a fine, historic presence of the study garden. It is a vine of the open, sunny to partly shaded, deep, moist, well-drained ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The cat’s claw is a curious subject of the plant science, and the hooked stems keep showing up in the work on the medicinal vines. The chemistry of the bark and the roots, which have a very long record in the old practice of the warm lands, has been studied at length, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the traditional vines, the woody climbers and the members of the madder family. The oval, glossy leaves and the clawed stems have also made it a fine study vine, and the cat’s claw is a regular subject of the work on the hooked vines of the warm world.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

The cat’s claw is a fine, curious vine of the study garden and the warm collection. The small, tubular, yellow-orange flowers open in the round heads through the warm season, one of the fine, curious sights of the collection, and the bark and the roots have a very long record in the old practice of the warm lands, steeped into the dark teas of the old ways. The vine is one of the fine choices for the warm pergola, the study collection and the sheltered fence, and the paired, claw-like spines give the curious name. It has been written up in the botanical and the herbal papers for the hooked stems and the long record of use, and it is a fine, curious vine of the open, sunny to partly shaded, deep, moist, well-drained garden.

Give the vine a warm, sheltered spot and the steady moisture through the growing season.

To grow the cat’s claw from seed, sow the small, round seeds a centimetre down in a tray of sterile seed compost, keep the tray in a warm, bright spot and water gently, then set the young plants out against the fence or the trellis. The seedlings appear within a few weeks and grow on steadily. With the sun or the light shade and the deep, moist, well-drained ground, the hooked vine will climb through the warm season.

Uncaria tomentosa / Uncaria Rhynchophylla