Cissus elongata

Scientific name: Cissus elongata Roxb.

Family: Vitaceae

Synonym: Vitis elongata (Roxb.) Wall.

Bengali/Vernacular name: Chemna lata, Dhemna.

Tribal name: Warongkheya (Garo), El-lid (Chakma), Honga (Khumi), Warongkheya (Marma), Champuither (Pangkhoa).

Description of the plant: A large herbaceous climber, glabrous with leaf-opposed, twice bifid tendrils. Leaves palmately 5-foliolate, glabrous, petioles up to 10 cm long, leaflet ellitpic or elliptic-lanceolate, shortly acuminate, serrate. Cymes dichotomously branched, small umbels. Flowers small, 4-merous. Fruit a berry, elliptic, smooth, black, 1-seeded.

Plant parts used: Leaf, stem.

Ethnomedicinal uses: The leaves and stems of the plant are cooked as vegetable and given as a remedy for jaundice.

Pea-sized pills are made from the leaves of the plant are taken thrice a day (one pill each time) for one month to treat spermatorrhoea.

Paste prepared from the leaves and stems of the plant is applied for the treatment of skin diseases.

Pea-sized pills are made from the leaves and stems of the plant are taken three times a day (one pill each time) until the rheumatism is cured.

Distribution: This species occurs in Bandarban, Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Khagrachari, Rangamati, and Slyhet district.

Is this plant misidentified? If yes, please tell us….