Around a medicinal creeper

5. The native doctors believe that discussing the properties will make the medicine lose its (7)
7. This animal knows how to cure itself when bitten by poisonous snake (8)
8. Our Indian medicine system is suffering from this (13)
11. He was author's erstwhile farmhand (7)
12. Tool that caused a near-fatal wound but led to a miraculous recovery (6)
15. This bird chewed the leaves instinctively (6)
16. Mara had laid a trap in the forest to catch (7)
17. The leaves resemble this plant (5)
19. This plant has been cursed by a ______ (4)
21. It took the author many years to know about the creeper (6)
22. The whiteman promised to offer this to Mara (12)
25. Blood was flowing copiously like this (6)
27. The texture of the milk after the experiment (14)
28. Author's friend was a plant pathologist (7)

1. Mara’s clever setup in the forest to catch small animals (4)
2. Mara's wife found this when she unwrapped the leaves (12)
3. This had to be protected from the sun (13)
4. Author's doctor friends called him this whenever he tried to discuss the properties of the plant (9)
6. One of the conditions treated with the creeper’s juice (5)
9. The root of the medicinal creeper tasted different (14)
10. The fruit resembles (13)
12. The reason the author accompanied Sanna and Mara (15)
13. The Englishman doctor was based here (11)
14. Mara and his friend caught this animal (11)
18. The author believes it is difficult to dismiss all of Mara’s stories as (6)
20. The number of days for the treatment of piles (4)
21. The full course of treatment for boils (3)
23. Mara felt a different taste when he tried to brush his teeth (4)
24. He said that squeezing the juice of the leaves turns the milk hard (7)
26. This was injured, causing blood to spurt like a fountain (6)
28. What the creeper’s juice does to milk, according to Appanna (7)