Gymnema sylvestre - Sugar destroyer

❏ Binomial Name : Gymnema sylvestre (Retz.) R.Br. ex Sm.

❏ Synonym : Periploca sylvestris,Gymnema parvifolium,Asclepias geminata

❏ Family : Apocynaceae

❏ Common Name : Sugar destroyer

❏ Tamil Name : Amudupushpam

❏ Hindi Name : Gurmar

❏ IUCN status: Not Evaluated

Gymnema sylvestre Botanical Description

Twining subshrubs, branchlets fulvous-tomentose. Leaves 4-7 x 3-5 cm, elliptic to ovate or obovate, apex obtusely acute, base truncate or obtuse, subcoriaceous, densely tomentose below, nerves 3 pairs; petiole 1-3 cm long. Flowers 4 mm across in umbellate cymes, many together; peduncle to 1 cm long, hispid; pedicels 6 mm long, slender; sepals 2 mm long, ovate; corolla campanulate, yellow, 2.5 mm long, tube globose, lobes triangular; corolline corona 5 vertical pairs of pubescent ridges; gynostegium 1.5 x 1 mm, cylindrical. Follicle 7.5 x 0.8 cm, lanceolate, seeds 10 x 5 mm, much compressed. Fl. &Fr.: July-January.

Gymnema sylvestre Medicinal uses

❀ The leaves are used to neutralize the taste of sugar.

❀ The plant has been used in traditional medicine, most notably to control blood sugar.

❀ The leaves also have been used for stomach ailments, constipation, water retention, and liver disease.

❀ The flowers, leaves, and fruits have been used in the treatment of alterations of blood pressure and heart rhythms.

❀ Chewing the leaves destroys the ability to identify the sweet taste, giving it the common name "sugar destroyer"

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