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Adenia hondala is a large, tuberous, woody climber from seasonally dry tropical South Asia that scrambles over other plants. It is grown mainly as a botanical or conservation specimen, and its key to cultivation is a dry, well-drained root zone with a rest period.
Adenia hondala, commonly known as hondala is a large, tuberous, woody climber which scrambles over other plants. It is found in the Indian subcontinent, including Sri Lanka, and in southeastern Asia. The tuber and the fruit are used as herbal remedies and the plant is used as a cure for snake bites. The caterpillars of several species of butterfly feed on this plant; these include the tawny coster, the clipper, the common cruiser and the Tamil lacewing.
This plant is native to tropical southeastern Asia, Vietmam and the southwestern part of India and Sri Lanka.
The young shoots and leaf stalks can be cooked and eaten. The tubers, which are poisonous, have antibacterial and antimicrobial properties and are used in Ayurvedic medicine for the treatment of skin disorders and to treat hernias. The seeds are used to combat the effects of poison, and the tubers are used to make a drug known as "vidari" or "vidaari", although this pharmaceutical is also made from other plants, Ipomoea mauritiana, Pueraria tuberosa and Cycas circinalis. The plant is also used against snake bites.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Adenia hondala by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
