Cocculus pendulus (J. R. Forst. & G. Forst.) Diels

Cocculus species are scandent or erect herbs, shrubs or small trees, monoecious. Leaves simple, alternate, non-peltate, entire or lobed. Flowers unisexual. Inflorescences cymose or thyrsoid, terminal or axillary. Male flowers, sepals 6-9, in 2-3 series, imbricate, the outer sepals smaller, petals 6, normally bifid or emarginated apex, auricled below, stamens 6-9, free, anthers subglobose, cells bursting transversely. Female flowers sepals and petals similar as in male flowers, staminodes 6 or absent, carpels 3-6, style subulate, cylindrical, reflexed. Fruits drupes curved, obovoid, laterally slightly compressed, style scar near the base, bony endocarp, transversely rigid above, perforate on both sides, Seed curved, endocarp faintly tubercled, endospermic, liguliform cotyledons.

Flowering class: Dicot Habit: Climber

Flowering and fruiting: October-January

Cocculus species are dioecious i.e., male (staminate) flowers on one plant, and female (pistillate) flowers on another plant. Pollination is entomophilous i.e., by insects. Flowering/Fruiting: October-January/Almost throughout the year.

Seeds may be dispersed by barochory i.e., gravitational dispersal, zoochory i.e., dispersal by birds or animals, anthropochory i.e., dispersal by humans.

Much branched erect shrubs, about 4-8 m tall. Stems striate, glabrous, pubescent when young, about 15-20 cm thick, bark grayish brown to dark brown, rough. Branches slender, terete, puberulous. Leaves simple, alternate, very variable, oblong-ovate, lanceolate-oblong, ovate-elliptic to somewhat trapezoidal, 1.5-5.5 x 0.5-3 cm across, base subcuneate to truncate, margin entire, apex acute, obtuse to emarginate, chartaceous, coriaceous, green, glabrous or sparsely pubescent both above and beneath, basal 3-5 veins, impressed above and beneath, petiole stout, sparsely pubescent, about 0.3-0.9 cm long. Inflorescence axillary or extra axillary, cymose. Male flowers in axillary, few flowered, subsessile or sessile, minute, in 10-20 mm fascicles on about 1.5 cm peduncles, sepals 6 in 2 series, outer series 3, smaller, ovate-elliptic, membranous, fleshy, about 1-1.5 x 0.3-0.8 mm across, inner series sepals 3, ovate to obovate, shining, glabrous to puberulous, petals 6, ovate, apex obtuse, about 1-2 x 0.5-1 mm long, stamens 6, about 1-1.5 mm long. Female flowers solitary or rarely in pairs, pedicels about 0.6-1.5 cm long, sepals and petals similar as in male flowers, staminodes about 0.5-1 mm long, carpels 3, about 1 mm long. Fruits drupes obovoid to ovoid, glabrous, reddish when ripe, black when dried, slightly compressed, about 4-7 mm across, endocarp rugose, without crest, ridged dorsal surface, centre not perforated.

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Notes: Western Ghats, Dry Deciduous Forests

Semi deserts, dry scrubs, dry deciduous forests, altitude up to 700 m.

Scrub jungle and deciduous forests

Leaf juice used as tonic. Roots and leaves are used as medicine for intermittent fevers, rheumatism.