Celastrus paniculatus - Jyotishmati , intellect tree

Seeds of Celastrus paniculatus Jyotishmati, "Intellect Tree"

The natives of India call Celastrus paniculatus Jyotishmati. In our region the pnat is better known as intellect tree. The intellect tree is naturally distributed in China and India.
Celasturs paniculatus grows as a climbing plant. Nevertheless the trunk reaches 23 cm in diameter. That impressive trunk climbs up on neighboring vegetation. Due to that the genus name Celastrus means "tree strangler"
The leaves of Celastrus paniculatus are elliptic to ovate. They get 7 cm long and 3 cm wide. The leaf margin is serrate and the venation on the bottom side of the leaves is sometimes slightly pubescent.
The intellect tree is diecious meaning that there are female and male flowers on different individuals of the intellect tree. The male and female flowers do not differ much from each other. They are both inconspicuous whitish, greenish or yellowish and small. The fruit developing from the flower is brightly yellow and contains the elliptic seeds. The seeds are only a few millimeters long and brown. They are protected by a red arrilus.
The seeds contain up to 50% of oil. The oil is used beside others for massages. It shall have a sedative effect and heal inflammations of the skin.

The oil shall also strengthen the cognitive skills. Due to that Celastrus paniculatus is called intellect tree. It is quite normal for an Indian student to eat a teaspoon of oil every day to strengthen the memory. In Ayurveda Celastrus paniculatus is used since centuries. There it is used as appetizer, against headache and also as aphrodisiac. Also in the Ayurveda it is known that the cognitive skills are improved by Celsatrus paniculatus.

Before sowing the seeds of the intellect tree the arrilus has to be removed. After that the seeds can be put into the substrate. For germination success the seeds in the substrate have to be put into the fridge for one or two months at 5°C. At room temperature germination will occur after some time in the constantly moist substrate. Celastrus paniculatus is winter hardy.