Description
Giloy or Heart-Leaved Moonseed or Guduchi Botanically known as Tinospora cordifolia from Menispermaceae family. It is Herbaceous vine and indigenous to tropical regions of the Indian subcontinent. It is a large, deciduous, extensively-spreading, climbing shrub with several elongated twining branches. Leaves are simple, alternate, and exstipulate with long petioles, which are roundish and pulvinate, both at the base and apex with the basal one longer and twisted partially and half way around. It gets its name heart-leaved moonseed by its heart-shaped leaves and its reddish fruit.
In Ayurved, Giloy has been used over centuries to treat various diseases. Due to inadequate design or other weaknesses of clinical research on Tinospora, there is no high-quality scientific evidence that it has any anti-disease effect, and is not used as a prescription drug. So it is always better to use it with advice from an expert.