Common Name:
Jiaogulan
Plant Type:
Herbaceous Perennial
Family:
Cucurbitaceae
Geographic Origin:
China
California Native?:
No

Plant Size:
1 foot high
Landscape/Garden Uses:
Medicinal
Flowering Season:
Summer

Flower Color:
White/cream
Exposure:
Full sun, light shade
Soils:
Most soils

Suggested Irrigation:
Moderate watering
Estimated Hardiness:
Hardy to 20 degrees F.

An herbaceous climbing vine from the cucumber family - native to China. In 1406 the physician Zhu Xiao described the herb in a medical text called "Materia Medica for Famine". Gynostemma pentaphyllum has come a long way from being the “poor man’s ginseng”, now often referred to as the “immortality herb”. The folklore of the region spoke of inhabitants of villages in the Fanjing Mountain (Guizhou province) who were living to 100 years of age as a result of drinking ‘Xiancao’ or The Immortality Herb daily.