BotanyRoot: spindle-shaped; 5 to 30 cm long, 2 cm thick; fleshy, very brittle, greyish externally, brownish-yellow inside, bitter; strong disagreeable odour when fresh.

BotanyHerb; woody vine.
Stem: smooth; erect; somewhat twining.
Leaves: simple; alternate; cordate; membranous, growing on leaf stalks; no stipules.
Flowers: in the leaf axils; inflated; globose at the base, continuing as a long perianth tube, ending in a tongue-shaped, brightly colored lobe; no corolla; calyx is one to three whorled, and three to six toothed; sepals are united (gamosepalous); stamens 6 to 40 in one whorl, united with the style, forming a gynostemium; ovary is inferior and is four to six locular.
Pollination: attracted insects get trapped in a fly-trap.
Fruit: dehiscent capsule with many endospermic seeds.