|This shrub is common throughout the hot zones
of India. The leaves are used in traditional
medicine to treat itchiness and as a wound plaster.
Neuropharmacological studies in animals (mice)
have demonstrated that the root extract induces
profound behavioral changes, particularly the
disappearance of aggressive behavior. The root extract appears to have strong narcotic effects
upon the central nervous system as well as
analgesic properties (Bhattacharya et al. 1988).
In the medicine of the Andean Callawaya, a
closely related species (Mikania scandens Willd.,
known as guaco) is used together with other plants
(see Erythroxylum coca, Cytisus spp.) to treatrheumatism (Bastien 1987, 131 *).
Bhattacharya, Siddhartha, Siddhartha Pal, and A. K.
Nag Chaudhuri. 1988. Neuropharmacological
studies on Mikania cordata root extract. PlantaMedica 54:483-87.