Vine spinach

Scientific name of Vine spinach: Basella alba

Name of Vine spinach in different languages:-

English: Malabar spinach, Red vine spinach, Climbing spinach, Creeping spinach, Buffalo spinach.

Sanskrit: Pathra, Upodika

Hindi: Poi पोई

Tamil: Kodip pasaLi-கொடிப்பசளி, Vasalakkirai

Malayalam: Vallicheera-വള്ളിച്ചീര, Pasaly.

Plant description:

Vine spinach is a fast-growing vine reaching up to 10 meters in length, The stem is reddish-purple soft-stemmed, and the leaves are heart-shaped, with a mucilaginous texture and spinach-like flavor. The flowers are small, white, and tinged with pink, born in clusters on the end of branch nodes; the flowering season is November to February. Fruits are berries greenish, change to shining black when ripe, single seed contains the fruit.

Useful plant parts:

leaf, root, stem

Leaf Arrangement

Shape-Heart shaped	Margin-Entire	Venation-Reticulate

Medicinal uses:

Used in the treatment of diarrhea, an antidote to poisons, swellings, dysentery, a febrifuge, and laxative, boils.

Chemical contents:

Astringent, diuretic, febrifuge, rubefacient.

It is used as an ingredient to prepare the Ayurvedic medicines like:

• Avipathi Choornam
• Eladi Choornam
• Karpooradi Choornam
• Sudarsana Choornam