Rauvolfia serpentina

Rauvolfia serpentina
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Plantae
Clade:Angiosperms
Clade:Eudicots
Clade:Asterids
Order:Gentianales
Family:Apocynaceae
Genus:Rauvolfia
Species: R. serpentina
Binomial name
Rauvolfia serpentina
Synonyms[3]
  • Ophioxylon album Gaertn.
  • Ophioxylon obversum Miq.
  • Ophioxylon salutiferum Salisb.
  • Ophioxylon serpentinum L.
  • Ophioxylon trifoliatum Gaertn.
  • Rauvolfia obversa (Miq.) Baill.
  • Rauvolfia trifoliata (Gaertn.) Baill.
Rauvolfia serpentina

Rauvolfia serpentina, the Indian snakeroot or devil pepper, is a species of flower in the family Apocynaceae. It is native to the Indian subcontinent and East Asia (from India to Indonesia).[4][5]

Rauvolfia is a perennial undershrub widely distributed in India in the sub- Himalayan tracts up to 1,000 m as well as the lower ranges of the Eastern and Western Ghats and in the Andamans.

Vernacular names

English: serpentine wood[6] Bengali: Chandra; Hindi: Chandrabagha, Chota chand; Kannada: Patalagondhi, Sarpagandhi, Shivavabhiballi, Sutranavi; Malayalam: Chuvanna-vilpori, Suvapavalforiyan; Marathi: Harkaya, Harki; Oriya:Patalgaruda, Sanochada; Tamil: Chivan amelpodi; Telgu: Paataala garuda, Paataala goni; Urdu: Asrel.[7] indonesia : pule pandak;

Chemical composition

Rauvolfia serpentina The plant contains 200 alkaloids of the indole alkaloid family. The major alkaloids are ajmaline, ajmalicine, ajmalimine, deserpidine, indobine, indobinine, reserpine, reserpiline, rescinnamine, rescinnamidine, serpentine, serpentinine and yohimbine.[8]

Traditional medicine

It is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine, where it has the name shégēn mù (Chinese: 蛇根木) or yìndù shémù (Chinese: 印度蛇木).

Other uses

The wood, commonly known as serpentwood, is mildly popular amongst woodcarving and woodturning hobbyists.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Appendices". Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-07.
  2. ↑ "Module 11: Ayurvedic". Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  3. ↑ "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  4. ↑ eFloras. "Rauvolfia serpentina". Flora of China. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
  5. ↑ Oudhia, P. and Tripathi, R.S. (2002). Identification, cultivation and export of important medicinal plants. In Proc. National Seminar on Horticulture Development in Chhattisgarh: Vision and Vistas. Indira Gandhi Agricultural University, Raipur (India) 21-23 Jan. 2002:78-85.
  6. ↑ "Rauvolfia serpentina". Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  7. ↑ http://www.bsienvis.nic.in/CITES/R.%20serpentina.pdf
  8. ↑ SerpentinaDB
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