Hemidesmus indicus

Hemidesmus indicus, Indian sarsaparilla ( Sanskrit: நறு நெட்டி Nannari, क्षीरिणी Kshirini, कराला Karala,اُشبا Punjabi), is a species of plant that is found in South Asia. It is a slender, laticiferous, twining, sometimes prostrate or semi-erect shrub. Roots are woody and aromatic. The stem is numerous, slender, terete, thickened at the nodes. The leaves are opposite, short-petioled, very variable, elliptic-oblong to linear-lanceolate. The flowers are greenish outside, purplish inside, crowded in sub-sessile axillary cymes. It occurs over the greater part of India, from the upper Gangetic plain eastwards to Assam and in some places in central, western and South India.