Description

Wax Leaved Climber is a strong woody plant, climbing trees and having ropelike stems. It can grow to 6 m long. Branchlets are pale gray. Leaft stalks are 1 cm long, with an oblong or elliptic leaf-blade, 10-18 × 4.5-7.5 cm. Leaf base is broadly wedge-shaped, tip rounded or sometimes acute. Flower cymes are like panicles, shorter than leaves. The stalk carrying the cyme is 2-5 mm. Sepals are broadly ovate, 1.5 × 1 mm. Flowers are greenish yellow or yellow-white. Flower tube is 2 mm, petals are long, linear-lancelike, 7 × 1.5-2 mm. Seed pod is cylindric, 6.5-9 × 1-2 cm, with 2 longitudinal ridges. Seeds are brownish, ovate-oblong. Flowering: March-August. Wax Leaved Climber, Scientific name 'Cryptolepis dubia' is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae that can be found in South and Southeastern Asia, as well as the southern region of China. Cryptolepis dubia is a climbing shrub producing stems up to 6 metres long that scramble over the ground and twine into other plants for support.

Characteristics:

Branchlets are pale gray. Leaf stalks are 1 cm long, with an oblong or elliptic leaf-blade. Leaf base is broadly wedge-shaped, tip rounded or sometimes acute. Flower cymes are like panicles, shorter than leaves. The stalk carrying the cyme is 2-5 mm. Sepals are broadly ovate. Flowers are greenish yellow or yellow-white. Flower tube is 2 mm, petals are long, linear-lancelike.

Medicinal Uses:

The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine. The leaves are toxic. The roots and fruits are used for the treatment of chills and oedemic. The plant is used in a preparation that is given to children as a cure for rickets. The latex from the stem is applied to the skin to treat wounds.