Please donate to support our ‘Plants to Save the Planet’ Project. The Project is directed at enabling designers of ‘carbon farms’ and ‘food forests’: agroecosystems of perennial plants, to choose the most appropriate plants for their requirements and site conditions. We are working on a subset of plants in the PFAF database identified as having the most potential for inclusion in such designs. We are adding search terms and icons to those plants pages, and providing a range of search options aligned to categories of plants and crop yields, with Help facilities including videos. More >>>

Translate this page:

Summary

Commonly grown in East Asia, Kandra Amrta (Tinospora cordifolia) is a large, deciduous climbing shrub with several twining branches. It is native to India, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka and known for other common names such as heart-leaved moonseed, guduchi, and giloy. Its leaves are simple and alternate, and used as a tonic tea. A dioecious species, female flowers are usually solitary while male flowers occur in clusters. T. cordifolia is valued as medicinal plant. It is one of the ingredients of Amrit Kalash, an Ayurvedic tonic formula. It is also used in the treatment of diarrhea, dysentery, fevers due to cold, indigestion, rheumatism, urinary disease, bronchitis, and infertility. On the other hand, the aerial roots are used for tying bundles.

Synonyms

Habitats

Edible Uses

Medicinal Uses

Plants For A Future can not take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. Always seek advice from a professional before using a plant medicinally.

The stem, root and whole plant are alterative, antidote, aphrodisiac, diuretic, febrifuge and tonic[146 , 304 ]. The starch obtained from the stem and root of the plant is nutrient and is useful in the treatment of diarrhoea and dysentery[304 ]. The fresh plant is more effective than the dried[304 ]. A watery extract, known as 'Indian Quinine' is a very effective treatment for fevers due to cold or indigestion[304 ]. The plant is also commonly used in a variety of other complaints including rheumatism, urinary disease, general debility, bronchitis and infertility[304 ]. One of the ingredients of the Ayurvedic tonic formula Amrit Kalash[301 ].

Our new book Edible Shrubs is now available.

Edible Shrubs provides detailed information, attractively presented, on over 70 shrub species. They have been selected to provide a mix of different plant sizes and growing conditions. Most provide delicious and nutritious fruit, but many also have edible leaves, seeds, flowers, stems or roots, or they yield edible or useful oil.

Other Uses

Agroforestry Uses: Some species in this genus are the larval hosts of fruit-piercing noctuid moths that cause significant damage to crops of Citrus (particularly Mandarins) and Dimocarpus longan (Longan) in Thailand[266 ]. Other Uses The aerial roots are used as a tying material for tying bundles[454 ].

Special Uses

Cultivation details

Temperature Converter

Type a value in the Celsius field to convert the value to Fahrenheit:

Celsius
Fahrenheit:

The PFAF Bookshop

Plants For A Future have a number of books available in paperback and digital form. Book titles include Edible Plants, Edible Perennials, Edible Trees, and Woodland Gardening. Our new book to be released soon is Edible Shrubs.

Readers comment

QR Code

What's this?

This is a QR code (short for Quick Response) which gives fast-track access to our website pages. QR Codes are barcodes that can be read by mobile phone (smartphone) cameras. This QR Code is unique to this page. All plant pages have their own unique code. For more information about QR Codes click here.

1. Copy and print the QR code to a plant label, poster, book, website, magazines, newspaper etc and even t-shirts.

2. Smartphone users scan the QR Code which automatically takes them to the webpage the QR Code came from.

3. Smartphone users quickly have information on a plant directly for the pfaf.org website on their phone.

Add a comment

If you have important information about this plant that may help other users please add a comment or link below. Only comments or links that are felt to be directly relevant to a plant will be included. If you think a comment/link or information contained on this page is inaccurate or misleading we would welcome your feedback at admin@pfaf.org. If you have questions about a plant please use the Forum on this website as we do not have the resources to answer questions ourselves.

* Please note: the comments by website users are not necessarily those held by PFAF and may give misleading or inaccurate information.

To leave a comment please Register or login here All comments need to be approved so will not appear immediately.

Content

PFAF Newsletter

*Email Address

Stay informed about PFAFs progress, challenges and hopes by signing up for our free email ePost. You will receive a range of benefits including:
* Important announcements and news
* Exclusive content not on the website
* Updates on new information & functionality of the website & database

We will not sell or share your email address.
You can unsubscribe at anytime.