Rauvolfia serpentina
| Rauvolfia serpentina | |
|---|---|
 | |
Conservation status | |
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[1] | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Gentianales |
| Family: | Apocynaceae |
| Genus: | Rauvolfia |
| Species: | R. serpentina |
| Binomial name | |
| Rauvolfia serpentina (L.) Benth. ex Kurz[2] | |
| Synonyms[3] | |
| |
Rauvolfia serpentina, the Indian snakeroot, devil pepper, or serpentine wood,[4] is a species of flower in the milkweed family Apocynaceae.[5] It is native to the Indian subcontinent and East Asia (from India to Indonesia).[6][7] Rauvolfia is a perennial undershrub widely distributed in India in the sub-Himalayan regions up to 1,000 metres (3,300 ft).
It is the source of the phytochemical, reserpine, which has been used in the treatment of systolic hypertension.
Chemical composition
Rauvolfia serpentina contains dozens of alkaloids of the indole alkaloid family, including ajmaline, ajmalicine, reserpine, and serpentine, among others.[5][8]
Potential therapeutic effects
Rauwolfia serpentina is the source of the phytochemical, reserpine, which has been used in the treatment of systolic hypertension, although its dose-response effects remained uncertain from limited clinical research, as of 2016.[9]
Potential adverse effects
Rauvolfia serpentina may cause adverse effects by interacting with various prescription drugs[10] or via interference with mechanisms of mental depression or peptic ulcer.[10] The reserpine in R. serpentina is associated with diverse adverse effects, including vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, headache, anxiety, or hypersensitivity reactions.
| This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Metasyntactic variable, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. |