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Ancistrocladus heyneanus
Kardal is a scrambling liana (climbing shrub) from the Western Ghats of southwestern India, grown mainly as a wild plant in tropical forest rather than as a garden or houseplant. It is known mostly for its alkaloids that have been studied for antimalarial activity in the lab.
Ancistrocladus heyneanus or kardal is a liana endemic to the Western Ghats of southwestern India. Leaves are alternate, oblong in shape, 10–25 cm long, margins are entire.
The species has attracted scientific attention because of its production of biologically active naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids, several of which have shown antimalarial and antiparasitic activity in laboratory studies.
Ancistrocladus heyneanus is known for producing diverse naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids, a rare class of secondary metabolites largely restricted to the family Ancistrocladaceae.
One of the earliest compounds isolated from the species was ancistrocladine, described in 1971 as a structurally unusual isoquinoline alkaloid.
The species is endemic to the Western Ghats of India, particularly in parts of Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, and Tamil Nadu. It grows in tropical evergreen forests, often in shaded forest interiors and along moist slopes.
Research on A. heyneanus has primarily focused on its alkaloids because of their pharmacological potential.
Ancistrocladus korupensis · Ancistrocladus letestui · Ancistrocladus tectorius · Ancistrocladus
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Ancistrocladus heyneanus 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.
