Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
COCCULUS PENDULUS
Botanical Name — Cocculus pendulus (J.R & G. Forst.) Diels
Synonym — C. leaba ( Del.) DC.
Family — Menispermaceae
African Names — Falor: tiati; Songhai: lilgui; Wolof: tiahat, mboum sehel; Tukulor: safatou
Description — This is a slender climbing shrub, but it is prostrate in open forests. It has thin,
glabrous branches. The leaves are glabrous, variable, entire (sometimes obscurely lobed), and ovate-
lanceolate. Male and female flowers are borne, with the male in axillary fascicles and the female
single or paired. It produces red subglobose fruits.
Habitat and Distribution — It is a semitropical plant, occurring mainly in savanna vegeta-
tion. It is distributed from northern Nigeria to Angola and the Arabian peninsula and from Senegal
to Cameroon.
Ethnomedicinal Uses — Many of the species Cocculus have been used in folk medicine in
India and Africa for the treatment of hypertension and symptoms related to the disease. The fruits
are used by the Arabs to make an intoxicating drink. The roots are used as an antipyretic, diuretic,
and cholagogue. The leaves are used as an ingredient in the preparation of fertility medicine for
women and to regulate the menstrual cycle.
Constituents — The plant contains the bitter principle colombin and the alkaloids palmatine,
sangaline, and pelosine. 297 Chromatographic analysis of the plant yielded the bisbenzylisoquinoline
alkaloids penduline, pendulin, cocsulinin, and N- methylpendin.
Pharmacological Studies — Hypotensive activity on laboratory animals has been observed in
the 50% alcoholic extract of the leaves and stems. 81 One of the isolated alkaloids, pendulin, has been
shown to possess hypotensive activity. 81
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