Giloy StemTinospora cordifolia

Mature climbing stem cut into short pieces, warty bark over a starchy wheel-marked core.

About this material

Giloy is the dried stem of Tinospora cordifolia, a climbing shrub, and mature stem is what is wanted: thin green growth of the current season dries to almost nothing and carries little of the starchy pith the trade is buying. The fresh stem is up to about 20 mm across with a soft warty grey-brown bark, and cuts to reveal a white starchy core marked with radiating lines that give a distinct wheel-spoke pattern in cross section. That pattern is the identification. Stems are cut into 2 to 5 cm lengths before drying, because a dried whole stem is difficult to reduce.

Also called

Giloy, Guduchi, Amrita