''Combretum indicum'', commonly known as the Rangoon creeper or Burma creeper, is a

vine A vine is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas, or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselves, for instance, when used in wicker work.Jackson; Benjamin; Da ...

with red flower clusters which is native to tropical Asia and grows in thickets,

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

and

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused Disturbance (ecology), disturbances, such as Logging, timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or ...

, and along river banks in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. It has since been cultivated and naturalized in tropical areas such as Burma, Vietnam, and Thailand. This plant is grown as an ornament.

Description

The Rangoon creeper is a

ligneous A woody plant is a plant that produces wood as its structural tissue and thus has a hard stem. In cold climates, woody plants further survive winter or dry season above ground, as opposed to Herbaceous plant, herbaceous plants that die back to t ...

vine that can reach from 2.5 meters to up to 8 meters. The leaves are elliptical with an acuminate tip and a rounded base. They grow from 7 to 15 centimeters and their arrangement is opposite.

Flowers and fruit

The flowers are tubular, consisting of oblong petals 6–8 mm long. They are fragrant and have long receptacles to adapt for pollinators with long tongues. They change in colour with age and it is thought that this is a strategy to gather more pollinators. The flower is initially white and opens at dusk to attract

hawkmoth The Sphingidae are a family of moths commonly called sphinx moths, also colloquially known as hawk moths, with many of their caterpillars known as hornworms. It includes about 1,450 species. It is best represented in the tropics, but species ar ...

s. On the second day it turns pink, and on the third it turns red attracting day flying bees and birds. The flower also changes from a horizontal orientation to a drooping pose. File:Buds and flowers of Combretum indicum (Rangoon creepe).jpg, Buds and flowers of ''Combretum indicum'' in

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

, India File:Flowers of Combretum indicum in West Bengal, India.jpg, Flowers in morning The 30 to 35 mm long fruit is dark brown, ellipsoidal and has five stiff and prominent wings. The seed tastes like

almond The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', Synonym (taxonomy)#Botany, syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree from the genus ''Prunus''. Along with the peach, it is classified in the subgenus ''Amygdalus'', distinguished from the other subgenera ...

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

when mature. The plant blooms all year long in warm regions (Combretum indicum is a vigorous climber, and can be found flowering throughout the year if the temperature remains high enough and enough water is available.)

Potential toxicity

The seeds of this and related species, ''Quisqualis fructus'' and ''Q. chinensis'', contain the chemical

quisqualic acid Quisqualic acid is an agonist of the AMPA, kainate, and group I metabotropic glutamate receptors. It is one of the most potent AMPA receptor agonists known. It causes excitotoxicity and is used in neuroscience to selectively destroy neurons ...

, which is an

agonist An agonist is a chemical that activates a Receptor (biochemistry), receptor to produce a biological response. Receptors are Cell (biology), cellular proteins whose activation causes the cell to modify what it is currently doing. In contrast, an R ...

for the

AMPA receptor The α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor (AMPA receptor, AMPAR, or quisqualate receptor) is an ionotropic receptor, ionotropic glutamate receptor (iGluR) and predominantly sodium ion channel that mediates fast excitator ...

, a kind of

glutamate Glutamic acid (symbol Glu or E; known as glutamate in its anionic form) is an α-amino acid that is used by almost all living beings in the biosynthesis of proteins. It is a Essential amino acid, non-essential nutrient for humans, meaning that ...

receptor Receptor may refer to: * Sensory receptor, in physiology, any neurite structure that, on receiving environmental stimuli, produces an informative nerve impulse *Receptor (biochemistry), in biochemistry, a protein molecule that receives and respond ...

in the brain. The chemical is linked to

excitotoxicity In excitotoxicity, neuron, nerve cells suffer damage or death when the levels of otherwise necessary and safe neurotransmitters such as glutamic acid, glutamate become pathologically high, resulting in excessive stimulation of cell surface recept ...

(cell death). The seeds have been used for treating

roundworm The nematodes ( or ; ; ), roundworms or eelworms constitute the phylum Nematoda. Species in the phylum inhabit a broad range of environments. Most species are free-living, feeding on microorganisms, but many are parasitic. Parasitic worms (hel ...

and pinworm infections. It is toxic to the parasite and kills it in the digestive tract.

History

John Ivor Murray John Ivor Murray FRSE FRCSE (1824 – 24 July 1903), known as Ivor, was a Scottish surgeon who practised in China, Hong Kong and then in Sebastopol in the Crimean War. He was notably adventurous, travelling through Borneo, collecting for the Ind ...

sent a sample of the "nuts" to the Museum of Economic Botany in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

in 1861, with a note that they were "used by the Chinese for worms" and a description of the means of preparation and dosage. This species was previously known as ''Quisqualis indicum'' but was reclassified along with 6 other ''Quisqualis'' species. Gurib Fakim, A., 2012
Combretum indicum (L.)
DeFilipps. In: Schmelzer, G.H. & Gurib Fakim, A. (Editors). Prota 11(2): Medicinal plants/Plantes médicinales 2. PROTA, Wageningen, Netherlands. December 2016

Gallery

File:使君子Combretum indicum 20210523080843 01.jpg, Flowers: small, cream calyx surrounded by large pink petals File:使君子Combretum indicum 20210523080843 36.jpg, 'Spines' derived from remnants of petioles File:使君子Combretum indicum 20210523080843 32.jpg, Climbing plant in flower File:使君子Combretum indicum 20210523080843 06.jpg, Bud shape File:使君子Combretum indicum 20210523080843 39.jpg, Foliage: the young leaves (not shown) are brown-tinted File:使君子Combretum indicum 20210523080843 46.jpg, The vines twine round ''

Casuarina equisetifolia ''Casuarina equisetifolia'', commonly known as coastal she-oak, horsetail she-oak, ironwood, beach sheoak, beach casuarina, whistling tree or Australian pine is a species of flowering plant in the family Casuarinaceae and is native to Australia, ...

'' for further growth support

References

External links

Quisqualis indica L.

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1062389 indicum Constantly blooming plants Flora of tropical Asia