Celastrus paniculatus

Celastrus paniculatus is a woody liana commonly known as black oil plant, climbing staff tree, and intellect tree (Sanskrit: jyotishmati^[1] ज्योतीष्मती, Hindi: mal-kangni माल-कांगनी, Chinese: deng you teng 灯油藤).^[2][3][4] This climbing shrub grows throughout India at elevations up to 1,800 m (5,900 ft).^[2][5]

Celastrus paniculatus
Fruits
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Celastrales
Family:	Celastraceae
Genus:	Celastrus
Species:	C. paniculatus
Binomial name
Celastrus paniculatus Willd.
Synonyms
Celastrus dependens Wall.

Seeds

C. paniculatus is a deciduous vine with stems up to 10 cm (3.9 in) in diameter and 6 m (20 ft) 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.^[2][3]

Traditional medicine

Oil from the seeds is used as a traditional medicine in Indian Unani and Ayurvedic medicine.^[2][6]

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.