Tinospora (Gulancha). The dried stem of Tinospora cordifolia, Miers. (N.O. Menispermaceoe), a climbing shrub indigenous to tropical India. Straight or twisted, light, cylindrical pieces, or in slices, about 2 cm. or less in diameter; cork thin, brown, papery, with raised scars of numerous lenticels; cortex greenish; section shows a yellowish wood with radially arranged, wedge-shaped wood bundles, containing large vessels, separated by narrower medullary rays; taste bitter. Contains berberine and also a glucosidal bitter principle.