Pachygone ovata
(Poiret) Hook. f. & Thomson, Fl. Ind. 203. 1855 & in Fl. Brit. India
1: 105. 1872. Cissampelos ovata Poiret in Lam., Encycl. Meth. Bot. 5: 10. 1804.
Tam.: Kadukkodi.
Woody climbers or stragglers, up to 15 m high; branchlets yellowish pubescent or puberulous when young, later glabrous. Leaves ovate-lanceolate or ovate, truncate or rounded at base, acuminate-mucronate or rarely obtuse at apex, 5 - 12 x 3 - 8 cm, chartaceous, softly pubescent to glabrous; basal nerves 3 - 5; lateral nerves 1 - 2 pairs; petioles 2 - 5 cm long, yellowish pubescent or glabrous. Inflorescences racemose, axillary, solitary or 2 - 3-fascicled, 5 - 20 cm long, puberulous; flowers minute, sweet-scented, in clusters of 3 - 5; bracts 4 - 5 mm long, puberulous or glabrous. Male flowers yellow; pedicels 1 - 3 mm long; sepals 6 - 12; outer 3 - 6 bracteiform, elliptic to rounded, 1 - 2 mm long; inner 3 - 6, elliptic, rotund, 1.5 - 2.5 mm long, puberulous outside; petals 6, oblong, auriculate at base, emarginate at apex, 1 - 15 mm long, glabrous; stamens 6, free, clasped by petals; filaments ca 15 mm long; anthers dehiscing by transverse slits; pistillodes 3. Female flowers: sepals and petals as in male; staminodes 6, minute; carpels 3, subovoid; style flattened; stigma minute. Drupes obovoid, subcompressed, reniform, 7 - 8 x 5 - 6 mm, glabrous, on 3 - 5 mm long stalks; style-scar subbasal; endocarp smooth. Seeds 5 - 7 mm long; embryo ca 5 mm long; cotyledons oblong, obtuse at apex.
Fl. & Fr. Jan. - Sept.
Distrib. India: Scrub jungles, hill forests along slopes, often in secondary forests, up to 900 m altitude. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Sri Lanka, Malesia and N.E. Australia.
Notes. The dried fruits are used for killing worms and stupefying fish.
Woody climbers or stragglers, up to 15 m high; branchlets yellowish pubescent or puberulous when young, later glabrous. Leaves ovate-lanceolate or ovate, truncate or rounded at base, acuminate-mucronate or rarely obtuse at apex, 5 - 12 x 3 - 8 cm, chartaceous, softly pubescent to glabrous; basal nerves 3 - 5; lateral nerves 1 - 2 pairs; petioles 2 - 5 cm long, yellowish pubescent or glabrous. Inflorescences racemose, axillary, solitary or 2 - 3-fascicled, 5 - 20 cm long, puberulous; flowers minute, sweet-scented, in clusters of 3 - 5; bracts 4 - 5 mm long, puberulous or glabrous. Male flowers yellow; pedicels 1 - 3 mm long; sepals 6 - 12; outer 3 - 6 bracteiform, elliptic to rounded, 1 - 2 mm long; inner 3 - 6, elliptic, rotund, 1.5 - 2.5 mm long, puberulous outside; petals 6, oblong, auriculate at base, emarginate at apex, 1 - 15 mm long, glabrous; stamens 6, free, clasped by petals; filaments ca 15 mm long; anthers dehiscing by transverse slits; pistillodes 3. Female flowers: sepals and petals as in male; staminodes 6, minute; carpels 3, subovoid; style flattened; stigma minute. Drupes obovoid, subcompressed, reniform, 7 - 8 x 5 - 6 mm, glabrous, on 3 - 5 mm long stalks; style-scar subbasal; endocarp smooth. Seeds 5 - 7 mm long; embryo ca 5 mm long; cotyledons oblong, obtuse at apex.
Fl. & Fr. Jan. - Sept.
Distrib. India: Scrub jungles, hill forests along slopes, often in secondary forests, up to 900 m altitude. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Sri Lanka, Malesia and N.E. Australia.
Notes. The dried fruits are used for killing worms and stupefying fish.
