Gynostemma pentaphyllum

Gynostemma pentaphyllum, also called jiaogulan (Chinese: 绞股蓝; pinyin: jiǎogǔlán; lit. 'twisting blue plant'), is a dioecious, herbaceous climbing vine of the family Cucurbitaceae (cucumber or gourd family) widely distributed in South and East Asia as well as New Guinea.

Jiaogulan is used to make a sweet tea and is applied in Chinese traditional medicine.

Among many common names are five-leaf ginseng, poor man's ginseng, miracle grass, fairy herb, sweet tea vine, gospel herb, and southern ginseng.

Gynostemma pentaphyllum is known as jiaogulan (Chinese: 绞股蓝) in China.

Jiaogulan belongs to the genus Gynostemma, in the family Cucurbitaceae, which includes cucumbers, gourds, and melons. Its fruit is a small purple inedible gourd. It is a climbing vine, attaching itself to supports using tendrils. The serrated leaflets commonly grow in groups of five (as in G. pentaphyllum) although some species can have groups of three or seven leaflets. The plant is dioecious, meaning each plant exists either as male or female. Therefore, if seeds are desired, both a male and female plant must be grown.

Jiaogulan grows avidly in the wild, is cultivated, and occurs naturalized in dry regions of the United States.

The plant was first described in 1406 CE by Zhu Xiao, who presented a description and sketch in the book Materia Medica for Famine as a survival food rather than a herb. The earliest record of jiaogulan's use comes from herbalist Li Shizhen's book Compendium of Materia Medica published in 1578, identifying jiaogulan supposedly for treating various ailments. While Li Shizhen had confused jiaogulan with an analogous herb, wulianmei, in 1848 Wu Qi-Jun rectified this confusion in Textual Investigation of Herbal Plants.^{[citation needed]}

Modern recognition of the plant outside of China originated from research in sugar substitutes. Continued research has described several saponins (gypenosides) comparable or identical to those found in ginseng. Panax ginseng contains ginsenosides, while gypenoside saponins have been found in jiaogulan. Ginsenosides have also been found in jiaogulan.