Boophone
| Boophone | |
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| Inflorescence of Boophone disticha | |
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| Subtribe: | Boophoninae
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| Genus: | Boophone |
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Boophone is a genus of herbaceous, perennial and bulbous plants in the Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae). It consists of two species distributed in Tropical and Southern Africa. It is closely related to Crossyne, a genus whose species have prostrate leaves.[2]
Species
The list of Boophone species, with their complete scientific name, authority, amd geographic distribution is given below.[3]
- Boophone disticha (L.f.) Herb., Bot. Mag. 52: t. 2578 (1825). Distributed from Sudan to South Africa.
- Boophone haemanthoides F.M.Leight., J. S. African Bot. 13: 59 (1947). Distributed from Namibia to the Western Cape Province.
Medicinal uses
Boophone disticha is used in South African traditional medicine by the Zulus to induce hallucinations for divinatory purposes, and also as a medicine to treat mental illness.[4] The bulb extract has shown potential in vitro and in vivo effect against depression,[5] possibly caused by a mixture of Boophone alkaloids.[6][7]
Etymology
William Herbert wrote the name of this genus with three different orthographies: "Boophane" in 1821; "Buphane" and Buphone" in 1825, and he conserved "Boophone" in 1837. Several authors since then speculated about the etymology and associated orthography of each name, but a proposal was published in 2001[8] to conserve the first name and to take the later ones as synonyms. This proposal was accepted in 2002.[9]
References
- ^ Appendix: 18 (1821).
- ^ Vigneron, P. (2000–2006). [www.amaryllidaceae.org/Boophone/index.htm Boophone "Boophone"]. Amaryllidaceae organization. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help)CS1 maint: date format (link) - ^ Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. World Checklist of Monocotyledons: Boophone . Accessed May 16 2009.
- ^ Stafford GI, Pedersen ME, van Staden J, Jäger AK (2008). "Review on plants with CNS-effects used in traditional South African medicine against mental diseases". J Ethnopharmacol. 119 (3): 513–37. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2008.08.010. PMID 18775771.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Pedersen ME, Szewczyk B, Stachowicz K, Wieronska J, Andersen J, Stafford GI, van Staden J, Pilc A, Jäger AK (2008). "Effects of South African traditional medicine in animal models for depression". J Ethnopharmacol. 119 (3): 542–8. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2008.08.030. PMID 18809486.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Sandager M, Nielsen ND, Stafford GI, van Staden J, Jäger AK (2005). "Alkaloids from Boophane disticha with affinity to the serotonin transporter in rat brain". J Ethnopharmacol. 98 (3): 367–70. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2008.08.010. PMID 15814274.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Neergaard J, Andersen J, Pedersen ME, Stafford GI, van Staden J, Jäger AK (2009). "Alkaloids from Boophone disticha with affinity to the serotonin transporter". S Afr J Botany. 72 (2): 371–4. doi:10.1016/j.sajb.2009.02.173.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ R. H. Archer, R. K. Brummitt, D. A. Snijman. 2001. Proposal to conserve the name Boophone Herbert with that spelling (Amaryllidaceae) Taxon, ISSN 0040-0262, Vol. 50, Nº 2, pags. 569-572.
- ^ Richard K. Brummitt. 2002. Report of the Committee for Spermatophyta: 53. Taxon, Vol. 51, No. 4 (Nov., 2002), pp. 795-799.