Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
occurring in crowded whorls, 6-32 cm long, and oblanceolate to linear-oblanceolate; the apex is
acute or subacuminate, with base cuneate; margins are entire. They are glabrous with a shiny green
upper surface and paler below. The veins, about 18-20 pairs, form an irregular open network; the
petiole is 0.5-5 cm long. The flowers are bisexual, occurring in much-branched whorl inflorescence;
the peduncle is 2-6 cm long, and bracts are minute; flowers are bisexual, 5-merous; pedicels are 1
mm long. The calyx is cup shaped, 1 mm long, with a mouth filled with whitish hairs. The fruits
occur as glossy green, subglobose to obovoid drupe, becoming wrinkled and blackish purple, 1-1.5
cm long, 2 cm in diameter if 12 seeded.
33
Habitat and Distribution —
Rauwolfia caffra
occurs in forests, especially lowland forests,
swampy areas, and along rivers and streams in the savanna belt. It prefers loamy sands or sandy
clay loam soils of mainly volcanic origin at altitudes between 500 and 2100 m, in areas receiving an
annual rainfall between 500 and over 1270 mm. The plant is native to eastern and southern Africa
and occurs in Zaire, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, and the
Republic of South Africa. In the West Coast, the plant is found in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Ghana
and can be differentiated from the more predominant
R. vomitoria
by its larger size, markedly
oblanceolate leaves, and larger fruits.
Ethnomedicinal Uses —
In East Africa, extracts of the roots are used for the treatment of
fevers, insomnia, and palpitation of the heart. The bark has been reported as a remedy for general
body swellings, rheumatism, and pneumonia.
478
The stem and root bark have also been dispensed as
an ascaricide and the powdered unopened inflorescent as a local application to sores on the legs.
80
An FAO monograph listed other folk uses of the plant, including use as a purgative or an emetic and
as a cure for coughs, stitch, and toothache.
33
Constituents —
R. caffra
yields idole and dihydroindole alkaloids similar to those found in
other
Rauwolia
species. The species, however, differs from
R. vomitoria, R. cumminsii, and R.
mombasiana
in containing serpentine series of heteroyohimbine alkaloids found in the Asian
R.
serpentine,
as well as the alstonine-type alkaloids found in the previously mentioned African spe-
cies. The major alkaloids include reserpine, ajmaline, reserpiline, and sarpagine, as well as pera-
kine, peraksine, and ajmaline.
913-916
Pharmacological Studies —
Rauwolia
alkaloids have been extensively investigated for bio-
logical activity, and the activities reported for
R. vomitoria
alkaloids also hold for this species.
RAUWOLFIA VOMITORIA
Botanical Name —
Rauvolfia vomitoria
Afzel.
