Saptarangi

Salacia reticulata is a flowering plant of the genus Salacia, native to Sri Lanka, the Andaman Islands and India. It is a liana, a climbing, perennial, woody shrub that grows and climbs among branches in wet tropical forests, with a dichotomous branching pattern. The bark is smooth, thin, greenish grey outside and white inside. The leaves are opposite and elliptic-oblong. The ripe fruit is an orange-red drupe, globose and tubercular, holding one to four seeds that each resemble an almond. The extracts contain diverse polyphenols and stilbenoids. The page says extracts of the root, stem and leaf are used in Indian traditional medicine in the unproven belief that they treat diabetes or obesity, and are sold as foods or dietary supplements in some countries. It says the extracts have not been evaluated in rigorous clinical trials for efficacy or safety, and are not approved as a medicine in any country.