Bitterroot Restoration

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Menispermaceae
Genus: Anamirta
Species: A. cocculus

Common name: Kakmari, kakamari(Beng.); Poison berry, Levant berries, Fish berries, Crow killer(Eng.).
Edible Parts: Leaves, Fruits, Seeds
Life cycle: Perennial
Native Range: Anamirta cocculus is an Southeast Asian and Indian climbing plant.

Description: A large (up to 10 cm in diameter); the bark is "corky gray" with white woody, climbing shrub with vertically furrowed ash- coloured bark and glabrous young parts; leaves large, simple, alternate, long-petioled, petioles thickened at the base and apex, broadly ovate, subcoriaceous, cordate or truncate at the base, acute or acuminate, 5-nerved with tufts of hairs in the axils of the nerves except the basal ones;the "small, yellowish-white, sweet-scented" flowers vary between 6 to 10 centimeters across; the fruit produced is a drupe, kidney shaped, turning red on ripening.

Medicinal Uses: Anamirta cocculus is the source of picrotoxin, a poisonous alkaloid with stimulant properties. The seeds contain two alkaloids, menispermine and paramenispermme. Seeds yield fat with a pale yellow colour, an agreeable taste and the following constants: acid val, iod val, sap val, acetyl val, unsapon mater. The fatty acid compostion is as follows: palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic. The unsaponified matter contains sitosterol.