Indian snake root
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Indian snake root ( Rauvolfia serpentina ) |
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The Indian snake root ( Rauvolfia serpentina , Syn. : Rauwolfia serpentina , Ophioxylon Serpentinum L., O. majus . Hassk), even madness herb , snake wood , Indian snake root or Java devil pepper , belongs to the family of Hundsgiftgewächse (Apocynaceae). However, it is not identical to the American, black or wild snake root known as the grape silver candle . It is also not to be confused with the species Brosimum guianense , a South American tree, often referred to as snakewood .
features
The Indian snake root is an evergreen , upright shrub that reaches an average height of 50 to 100 cm. The plants contain milky sap and have a smooth, light brown bark .
The stalked, entire and whorled leaves are ovate or lanceolate to obovate, pointed to pointed and glossy.
Between (February) April and May (October) it forms many small, hermaphrodite, radial symmetry and five-fold, salver-shaped flowers . They stand in axillary or terminal, long-stalked and zymous inflorescences. The cup-shaped fused sepals with triangular lobes are initially greenish, then whitish, reddish and then reddish after fertilization. The petals are fused into a long, white-pink corolla tube with a short, thickened part above the middle and white corolla lobes. The roof-tiled corolla lobes overlap to the left. There is only one stamen circle ; the stamens are very short and arranged in the corolla tube so that the anthers are in the thickened part. The ovary is on top with a long stylus that ends roughly at the anthers, with a wide, cylindrical, fringed stigma head with two small tips, and an appendage below. There is a cup-shaped disc .
There are pea-sized, first red, then black when ripe drupes formed which are about 8 mm. Double stone fruits are often formed.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 22.
origin
The Indian snake root is originally native to India and has spread from there to Indonesia , Pakistan and Sri Lanka . The areas are located in mountain forests at altitudes between 800 and 1500 m above sea level in India, Indonesia, Malaysia , Myanmar , Sri Lanka, Thailand and in the Chinese provinces: in southern Yunnan (Gengma, Jing-hong), southern Guangxi and Hainan (cultivated in southern Guangdong ). In order not to endanger the wild population of the plant, export from India has been prohibited since 1997.
The generic name Rauwolfia was given to the plant in 1703 by the French botanist Charles Plumier , who named it in honor of the Augsburg doctor and botanist Leonhard Rauwolf , who had brought dried plants back from a trip to the Orient in 1576.
Medical applications
The roots of the plant ( Rauvolfia radix , also Rauwolfia radix ) have been used in Indian medicine for centuries and reached Europe at the beginning of the 18th century .
The medicinally effective components are about 60 different alkaloids , more precisely mono terpene - indole alkaloids of the yohimban, heteroyohimban, sarpagan and ajmalan types. The total alkaloid content is 1–2%. The two main active ingredients are reserpine and rescinnamine . Other alkaloids are for example: ajmaline , deserpidine , serpentine and yohimbine .
The alkaloid mixture has a laxative, calming, antihypertensive, antispasmodic and mood-enhancing effect.
Reserpine was also used in higher doses in the 1950s and 1960s as an agent against schizophrenia .
literature
- PH List, L. Hörhammer: Handbook of Pharmaceutical Practice. Volume 6: Chemicals and Drugs: Part B: R, S , 4th edition, Springer, 1979, ISBN 978-3-642-66378-9 (reprint), p. 19 ff.
- Mannfried Pahlow: The great book of medicinal plants: healthy through the healing powers of nature. Bechtermünz, Augsburg 2001, ISBN 3-8289-1839-5 .
- Max Wichtl: Tea drugs and phytopharmaceuticals: a practical manual on a scientific basis. 4th edition, Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8047-1854-X .
- Robert Zander : Zander concise dictionary of plant names. Edited by Fritz Encke , Günther Buchheim, Siegmund Seybold . 15th edition, corrected reprint of the 14th edition, Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-8001-5072-7 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rauvolfia serpentina at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
- ↑ Hans Bangen: History of the drug therapy of schizophrenia. Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-927408-82-4 . P. 90–95: Neuroleptics and psychiatric theorizing
