539

Aristolochia indica L

Synonym	:	Aristolochialanceolata Wight
Family	:	Aristolochiaceae
Local name	:	English-  Indian birthwort  Malayalam- Garudakodi, Karalakam
Flowering and fruiting period	:	July - March
Distribution	:	Indo-Malaysia
Distribution in kerala	:	All Districts
Habitat	:	Degraded moist deciduous forests, also in the plain growing along fence.
Endemic/Exotic	:	Endemic to Southern India and also Sri Lanka.
Uses	:	Roots are used as a gastric stimulant and bitter tonic.Juice of leaves is used in cough and seeds in inflammation and biliousness. Roots and leaves are useful in snakebites, spider poisoning, worm infestation, skin diseases, wounds, and bowel.
Key botanical characters: Twining perennial herbs; branchlets slender. Leaves simple, alternate acute to acuminate, glabrous. Flowers in few-flowered axillary racemes;rounded at apex, greyish-green. Stamens 6. Stigmas 6, fleshy. Capsule, globose-pyriform, 6-ridged, dehiscing from the base, after dehiscence parachute-like; seeds 4-6 , broadly deltoid, flat, winged.