Hippocratea volubilis L.

Medicine vine (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Celastrales > Celastraceae > Hippocratea

Characteristics

Liana up to 25 m. long, the young parts densely and minutely brown-tomen-tellous-papillate, the branches often stout, terete, subterete or distally quadrangular, inconspicuously lenticellate. Leaves with the petiole slender, canaliculate or narrowly winged distally, 4-10 mm. long; blade ovate to elliptic or oblong-elliptic, rounded or acute at the base, rounded or obtusely cuspidate or short-acuminate at the apex, subentire, crenate or serrate at the margins, 4-17 cm. long and 2-8 cm. wide, chartaceous or rarely thin-coriaceous, the costa slightly or sharply elevated above, prominent beneath. Inflorescences 3-15 cm. long, the axes densely and minutely brown-tomentellous-papillate. Flowers 4-8 mm. in diam., the pedicel slender, 1-3 mrm. long, tomentellous-papillate, the bracteoles about 0.5 mm. long and caducous; sepals broadly ovate to deltoid, rounded, obtuse or obscurely apiculate at the apex, erose or irregularly ciliolate at the margins, 0.5-1.2 mm. long and 0.6-1.4 mm. broad, papyraceous, minutely tomentellous-papillate; petals oblong or elliptic-oblong, subacute at the apex, minutely ciliolate at the margins, 2.5-4 mm. long and 1.3-2.6 mm. broad, minutely tomentellous-papillate especially out-side, transversely barbellate inside about 1 mm. below the apex; disc 0.8-1.7 mm. high, often subpentagonous and sometimes expanded at the base; filaments ligulate, broadly expanded and often contiguous at the base, membranous or submem-branous, sometimes minutely puberulus; anthers about 0.3-0.5 mm. long and 0.5-0.7 mm. broad; ovary about 1 mm. in diam., the style 0.8-1.3 mm. long. Mericarps obovate-elliptic or narrowly elliptic, obtuse and slightly swollen at the base, rounded or emarginate at the apex, subacute and entire at the margins, 4-8 cm. long, 1.5-5 cm. broad and 2-4 mm. thick before delhisccnce, the pericarp usually densely and finely flabellate-costate without, smooth within; seeds with the embry-oniferous portion obliquely ellipsoid, 13-25 mm. long and 4-7 mm. broad, the wing obovate-oblong, slightly falcate, 2-4 cm. long and 1-1.5 cm. wide.
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Liana to 2  long. Petiole 5-16 mm long; blades when dried brownish above, or greyish to olivaceous, then discolorous, elliptic, sometimes narrowly so, or oblong, or (ob)ovate, 3-14 x 2-6 cm, margins undulate to serrate or crenate, apex acute, acuminate or somewhat cuspidate, base rounded to acute, often decurrent into the petiole; primary vein prominulous or prominent above, prominent below, secondary veins 5-8 per side, prominulous on both surfaces, tertiary veins reticulate, inconspicuous. Inflorescence brown-to orange-puberulous, 1-6 x 2.5-9 cm; peduncles 1-5 cm long; bracts ovate, acute, 1-1.5 mm long; pedicels 1-4 mm long; bracteoles 0.5 mm long, caducous. Flowers 4-8 mm diam.; sepals tomentellous, broadly ovate or deltoid, 0.5-1.2 x 0.6-1.4 mm, erose or ciliolate; petals oblong or elliptic, greenish, creamish or yellow, 4 x 2.6 mm, densely puberulous on both surfaces, a transverse line of hairs within on the upper half; disk to 3 mm diam., to 1.7 mm high, sometimes expanded at base, puberulous; filaments ligulate, to 1.3 mm long, often contiguous at base, anthers 0.3-0.5 x 0.5-0.7 mm; ovary ca. 1 mm diam., style to 1.3 mm long, stigmas inconspicuous. Receptacle to 4 mm diam. Mericarps obovate, elliptic or oblong-elliptic, 4-8 x 1.5-3 cm, rounded or emarginate at apex, pericarp ca. 0.2 mm thick densely and finely striate without, smooth within; seeds 3-6.5 cm long, 1-2.5(-7) mm broad, embryoniferous part of seed 13-25 x 4-7 mm, wing 20-40 x 10-15(-25) mm.
A liana or creeper. It can be 20 m long. The leaves are opposite. The flowers are in groups in the axils of leaves. There are usually many flowers in groups 3-12 cm long. These are branched. The fruit is a capsule divided into 3 sections that are spread out. These are attached to a swollen stalk. The capsules are 4.5 cm long by 2.5 cm wide and 0.3 cm thick. There are 5-6 seeds. The seeds are 2 cm long by 0.5 cm wide.
Vines 20–25 m. Stems much-branched, ascending, green. Leaves: blade elliptic to ovate or obovate, 5–14 × 2–8 cm. Inflorescences 4–12 cm, brownish tomentulose or puberulent. Flowers 4–8 mm diam.; sepals 0.5–1.2 mm; petals 2.5–4 mm. Capsules 4–8 × 1.5–5 cm. Seeds 1.3–2.5 × 4–7 mm, wing obovate-oblong, 2–4 cm.
Life form perennial
Growth form shrub
Growth support climber
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
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Mature height (meter) 0.0 - 0.0
Root system -
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Flower color
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Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

A tropical plant. It grows in the rainforest especially along the edges of rivers. In Argentina it grows from sea level to 1,800 m above sea level.
Light -
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Hardiness (USDA) 9-12

Usage

Uses: The stems are used as binding fibre. The seeds are edible and yield an odourless, colourless oil.
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The seeds are eaten. The seeds are used to extract oil.
Uses fiber material medicinal oil
Edible seeds
Therapeutic use Bite(Snake) (unspecified), Pectoral (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Mode -
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Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
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Images

Hippocratea volubilis unspecified picture

Distribution

Hippocratea volubilis world distribution map, present in Argentina, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Grenada, Guatemala, French Guiana, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Martinique, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Paraguay, Sudan, El Salvador, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America, and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:161653-1
WFO ID wfo-0000723651
COL ID 3LZZR
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID 629860
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Pereskia paniculata Hippocratea infuscata Hippocratea ovata Hippocratea swartziana Hippocratea volubilis Hippocratea acutiflora Hippocratea affinis Hippocratea cearensis Hippocratea copiosiflora Hippocratea discolor Hippocratea elliptica Hippocratea pallidula Hippocratea perspicua Hippocratea versicolor Salacia blainii Hippocratea ovata f. multiflora Hippocratea utilis Hippocratea meizantha Hippocratea rovirosae Hippocratea anafensis Hippocratea plumieri Bejuco pendulus Hippocratea serrulata Hippocratea ovalifolia Hippocratea aubletiana Hippocratea lonchophylla Hippocratea diffusa Hippocratea divaricata Hippocratea laevigata Tontelea laevigata Hippocratea vahliana Hippocratea hilariana Hippocratea ovata var. serrulata Hippocratea scandens Hippocratea ovata var. oblongifolia Hippocratea ovata var. latibarbis Hippocratea ovata var. crassifolia Hippocratea ovata var. grandiflora Hippocratea ovata var. parviflora Hippocratea obcordata Hippocratea viridis