Smilax zeylanica

Kumarika is an armed or unarmed climber. Leaves leathery, shining, broadly ovate to elliptic, base rounded or shortly wedge-haped. Flowers are white, in dense umbels in leaf axils. Perianth recurved in mature flowers, Stamens about as long as the perianth.

It is found from the Himalayan region in the north to Peninsular India. Flowering season from January-April. Plants used as abscesses, boils, swellings, and rheumatism. a powerful antibiotic medicinal plant. Boiled young roots are edible, possibly only used in times of famine. The stems are very tough and used for baskets and wickerwork. Young stem tips are used as a vegetable. Medicinally, the roots are used as a medicinal plant in India, and as an adulterant of the famous roots of Smilax china L. (China root, gadung cina) in the Moluccas, active against venereal diseases and skin problems.