Distribution and Habitat: Throughout India.

Botany: A large climbing unarmed shrub with 10 m high and long slender elongating branches which are reddish brown and covered with elongate white lenticels. 

• Leaves: Simple alternate, ovate or obovate, crenulate, coriaceous, glabrous lateral nerves arching
• Flowers: Greenish white in terminal drooping panicles, unisexual, small
• Fruits: Capsules, 6-12 mm across, depressed globose, 3 lobed, bright yellow when ripe, opening to expose the brown seeds covered with orange red aril. 1-6 seeded, seeds ellipsoid or ovoid, 3-6 × 2.5-3.4 mm.

Properties: Depurative, Brain tonic. Seeds are bitter emetic, alterative, laxative, stimulant, nervine and aphrodisiac. 

Chemical constituents: Acetic, benzoic, formic, linoleic, linolenic, palmitic and stearic acids. Celapagine, celapanigine, celapanine, celastrol, celastrine, polyhydric alcohol, malkanguniol, and four related alcohols etc from seeds. 

Seeds also yield triterpines paniculatadiol, malkanguniol along with poly esters, β-amyrin, β-sitosterol, Malkangunin, celapanine and celapaningine. 

Uses: It is used as emmenagogue, dysentery, abdominal disorders, paralysis, cerebral disorders, inflammations, depression, leprosy, beri-beri, rheumatic pains, eczema and pneumonia

Propagation: seeds