asthisamharaka :

General Use:

Used as medicine.

Young green stems - cooked. Usually fried or curried.

The leaves and young shoots are used in the preparation of poppadoms and curries.
The ash of the plant is used as a substitute for baking powder

Therapeutic Uses:

The stout, fleshy quadrangular stem is traditionally used for the treatment of gastritis, bone fractures, skin infections, constipations, eye diseases, piles, anemia, asthma, irregular menstruation, burns and wounds. The leaves and young shoots are powerful alteratives. Powder is administered in treatment of hemorrhoids and certain bowl infections. The juice of stem is useful in scurvy and in irregular menstruation whereas the stem paste boiled in lime water is given in asthma. It is also used as a powerful stomachic. Cissus quadrangularis Linn. has potent fracture healing property and antimicrobial, antiulcer, antioxidative, antisteoporotic, gastroprotective, cholinergic activity as well as beneficial effects on cardiovascular diseases. It has been investigated that methanolic extract of Cissus quadrangularis possesses antiulcer and cytoprotective property in indomethacin induced gastric mucosal injury. The aqueous extract also shows acetylcholine like activity on isolated ileum of rabbit and uterus of rat. The action on dog blood pressure is analogous to muscarinic and nicotinic actions of acetylcholine. Ethyl acetate fractions of both fresh and dry stem extracts show antioxidant activity. The ethyl acetate extract and methanol extract of both fresh and dry stem further exhibit antimicrobial activity against gram-positive bacteria including Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus species. Due to its widespread and versatile therapeutic uses as well as pharmacological actions, the present study highlighted the health promoting and therapeutic properties of Cissus quadrangularis.