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Cardiospermum halicacabum

Common name:	Heart Seed	Family:	Sapindaceae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	43, 50, 200
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	E. Asia - India. N. America. Africa. Locally naturalized in S. Europe[50].
Habitat:	Moist thickets and waste ground in Eastern N. America[43].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	1	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	2

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Cardispermum halicacabum[H]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Badha [E], Balloon Vine [H], Baloon Vine [E], Bonnet Carre [E], Heart Seed [H], Ketipes [E], Kokalende [E], Kola Myetsi [E], Love In A Puff [P,H], Love-in-a-puff [B], Pepare Karung [E], Peria Bulan [E], Persil Batard [E], Pois De Merveille [E], Pois Merveille [E], Toffe-Toffe [E], Uban Kayu [E],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Sapindales. Soapberry family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Africa; Burma; Guinea; Haiti; India; Java; Mexico; Nigeria; Pakistan; Senegal; Sudan; Us
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: USA Invasive.

Physical Characteristics

A decidious climber growing to 3m. It is hardy to zone 9 and is frost tender. It is in flower from July to August, and the seeds ripen from August to October. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). We rate it 1/5 for edibility and 2/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Dappled Shade, By Walls, By South Wall, By West Wall.

Edible Uses

Leaves.

Leaves and young shoots - cooked[1, 105, 177, 272]. Used as a spinach[2].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Diaphoretic; Diuretic; Emetic; Emmenagogue; Laxative; Refrigerant; Rubefacient; Stomachic.

The whole plant is diaphoretic, diuretic, emetic, emmenagogue, laxative, refrigerant, rubefacient, stomachic and sudorific[218]. It is used in the treatment of rheumatism, nervous diseases, stiffness of the limbs and snakebite[240, 243].
The leaves are rubefacient, they are applied as a poultice in the treatment of rheumatism[240, 243]. A tea made from them is used in the treatment of itchy skin[218]. Salted leaves are used as a poultice on swellings[218].The leaf juice has been used as a treatment for earache[240, 243].
The root is diaphoretic, diuretic, emmenagogue, laxative and rubefacient[240]. It is occasionally used in the treatment of rheumatism, lumbago and nervous diseases[240].

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Prefers a moist soil and a sunny sheltered position[138], but succeeds in most soils[1].
A frost-tender deciduous climber, it is grown as an annual in Britain[188].

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in a greenhouse. Germination usually takes place within 3 - 4 weeks at 20°c[138]. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in a greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Cardispermum halicacabum (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database

References for the family Sapindaceae.

To be included in the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[43] Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co. 1950
A bit dated but good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.

[50] ? Flora Europaea Cambridge University Press 1964
An immense work in 6 volumes (including the index). The standard reference flora for europe, it is very terse though and with very little extra information. Not for the casual reader.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[138] Bird. R. (Editor) Growing from Seed. Volume 3. Thompson and Morgan. 1989
Very readable magazine with lots of information on propagation.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[188] Brickell. C. The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd. 1990 ISBN 0-86318-386-7
Excellent range of photographs, some cultivation details but very little information on plant uses.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[218] Duke. J. A. and Ayensu. E. S. Medicinal Plants of China Reference Publications, Inc. 1985 ISBN 0-917256-20-4
Details of over 1,200 medicinal plants of China and brief details of their uses. Often includes an analysis, or at least a list of constituents. Heavy going if you are not into the subject.

[240] Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C. Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement). Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. 1986
Very terse details of medicinal uses of plants with a wide range of references and details of research into the plants chemistry. Not for the casual reader.

[243] Medicinal Plants of Nepal Dept. of Medicinal Plants. Nepal. 1993
Terse details of the medicinal properties of Nepalese plants, including cultivated species and a few imported herbs.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
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