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Gynostemma pentaphyllum
Also called Five Leaf Gynostemma, Southern Ginseng
Gynostemma pentaphyllum (jiaogulan, southern ginseng) is a dioecious, herbaceous climbing vine in the gourd family, grown for its leaves in herbal tea. It needs full sun, well-drained soil and frost protection, and male and female plants must both be present for seed.
Gynostemma pentaphyllum, also called jiaogulan (Chinese: 绞股蓝; pinyin: jiǎogǔlán; lit. 'twisting blue plant'), is a dioecious, herbaceous climbing vine of the family Cucurbitaceae (cucumber or gourd family) widely distributed in South and East Asia as well as New Guinea.
Jiaogulan is used to make a sweet tea and is applied in Chinese traditional medicine.
G. pentaphyllum is one of about 17 species in the genus Gynostemma, including nine species endemic to China. However, G. pentaphyllum has a wide distribution outside of China, ranging from India and Bangladesh to Southeast Asia to Japan and Korea as well as to New Guinea. In China, it grows in forests, thickets, and roadsides on mountain slopes at elevations of 300–3,200 m (980–10,500 ft) above sea level.
The plant is used in folk medicine, typically as a herbal tea, but may be used as an alcohol extract or in dietary supplements. It has not seen widespread use in traditional Chinese medicine, being adopted only in the past 20 years, and grows mainly in Guizhou province.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Gynostemma pentaphyllum 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.
