Coscinium fenestratum or yellow vine, as it is
sometimes referred to in English, is a flowering woody climber, native to South
Asia and Mainland Southeast Asia. It is rare and critically endangered in many
of its habitats.Coscinium fenestratum is a member of the family Menispermaceae
and the genus Coscinium. The plant is known by many different names, such
as:Tree turmeric, False calumba, Colombo weed, Weniwel, Daru Haridra (in
Sanskrit), Mara Manjal (in Tamil and Malayalam),Haem herb (in Thai),Voer Romiet
(in Khmer) etc.. Its natural habitat spans South Asia and parts of Southeast
Asia, from India to Indonesia. It can only thrive in a tropical climate and
prefers mixed and dense evergreen forest, with fertile soil and high moisture.
The plant has a long history as a medicinal plant in the various traditional
medicines of the region where it grows.
This includes Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha medicine in India, Sinhalamedicine in Sri Lanka, the Kru Khmer healing traditions in Cambodia, traditional
Vietnamese medicine of Thuoc Nam, etc.. There is speculation that it might also
have found a modern use in the illegal drug market industry.The primary active
ingredient in Coscinium fenestratum is berberine. Because of the growing
populations and industrialization of Asia, the demand for Coscinium fenestratum
has increased manifold in the last decades, decimating the natural distribution
of the plant dramatically. It is therefore now listed as rare and critically
endangered in many of its habitats.
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