Gynostemma pentaphyllum
Content
Description
Herbaceous or subwoody climber, 2-8 m tall, root perennial but not(?) tuberous, main stem to 1 cm thick, bark fissured, grey;
Leaves:
Fruit green, ripening pale yellow or blackish, globose, 0.5-0.8 cm diam., glabrous or (sparsely) hairy;
Seeds usually 2, subcircular, triangular or cordate in outline, 3-4 mm diam., little or moderately compressed, faces irregularly verrucose or wrinkled, margin broad or narrow.
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: India present; Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka present), east through China, to Japan and Korea present, south-east through Indochina and Thailand present
Widespread, as for the genus; India, Sri Lanka, east through China, to Japan and Korea, south-east through Indochina and Thailand; common throughout Malesia.
Taxonomy
2 Gynostemma pentaphyllum is very variable, comprising various not sharply demarcated local forms, or ecotypes. To acknowledge some of the variation, the following forms are recognized:
1 Densely hairy plants with 3-foliolate leaves from Myanmar, China, and Thailand, known as G. burmanica Chakrav. were placed in the synonymy of G. pentaphyllum by De Wilde & Duyfjes (2007, 2008), but the former species can probably better be regarded as a species of its own.