Description
Balloon Vine is a long-lived scrambling, deciduous woody, perennial to annual many branched, creeping, or climbing vine that grows up to 10 ft. (3 m) long. The plant is found growing in moist thickets, waste places, riverbanks, gardens, roadsides, disturbed sites, plantations, forest margins, woodland, grassland, floodplains, rocky sites, pastures, cultivated areas, riparian zones and shrub lands.
The plant prefers acidic or basic soil. Roots are shallow with a long, woody taproot. Stems are hairy, initially thin and green with ribs often streaked red. In maturity the stem changes to pale brown before thickening to become woody. The plant is woody and has tendrils that are used for climbing. Leaves are alternate on the stem and form nine leaflets in-groups of three with the middle leaflet usually the largest. They are 2-7 cm long, 1-5 cm wide, soft and hairy with broadly toothed edges, obvious veins on both sides and grow on a hairy stalk.
The entire balloon vine (Cardiospermum halicacabum) plant possesses several therapeutic properties. It is a good diuretic, diaphoretic, emmenagogue, emetic, refrigerant, laxative, stomachic, rubefacient as well as sudorific.
It has been found that the balloon vine plant also has analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antipyretic activities. This plant is extensively used in the ancient Indian medicine system called Ayurveda as well as various folk medicines for treating conditions like fever, rheumatism and earaches.
Owing to its multiple therapeutic properties, this herb also has numerous applications. Balloon vine is employed for the treatment of stiffness of the limbs, rheumatism, nervous conditions as well as snakebites. The leaves of this herb possess rubefacient attributes so they are used the treatment of rheumatism.
Balloon Vine can be used for hair to treat itchy scalp and dandruff and for promoting hair growth. We can make homemade oil for treating dandruff using Balloon Vine. To make the oil, boil Balloon Vine with sesame oil and use that oil as massage oil before hair wash.
