Celastrus paniculatus



Celastrus paniculatus is a woody liana commonly known as black oil plant, climbing staff tree, and intellect tree (Sanskrit: jyotishmati ज्योतीष्मती, Hindi: mal-kangani माल-कांगनी, Chinese: deng you teng 灯油藤). This climbing shrub grows throughout India at elevations up to 1800 m.

C. paniculatus is a deciduous vine with stems up to 10 cm in diameter and 6 m long with rough, pale brown exfoliating bark covered densely with small, elongated lenticles. The leaves are simple, broad, and oval, obovate or elliptic in shape, with toothed margins.

Traditional medicine
Oil from the seeds is used as a traditional medicine in Indian Unani and Ayurvedic medicine.

Poisonous relative
Celastrus paniculatus has a relative that grows in the United States that is poisonous (Celastrus orbiculatus), so identifying this plant carefully can be important.