Rauwolfia root Rauvolfia serpentina
LATIN NAME: Rauvolfia serpentina
COMMON NAME: Indian Snakeroot
Few plants carry a heavier name in the medicine books than the Indian snakeroot, and the low, white-flowered shrub earned it the hard way. The upright, evergreen shrub carries the whorls of the narrow, pointed leaves and the small, white or pinkish, funnel-shaped flowers in the dense heads through the year, to be followed by the small, dark, glossy fruits. The thick roots have one of the longest records in the old practice of the warm East, and the plant is a fine, quiet presence of the warm border and the study garden. It is a plant of the open, sunny to partly shaded, well-drained ground.
Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology
Few subjects of the plant science carry a longer clinical record than the Indian snakeroot, and the white-flowered shrub has been studied for the calm it brought to the old practice. The chemistry of the thick roots, which gave the modern medicine one of its early blood-pressure remedies, has been studied closely, and it keeps showing up in the work on the medicinal roots, the alkaloid plants and the members of the dogbane family. The whorls of the narrow leaves and the low, upright habit have also made it a fine garden plant, and the Indian snakeroot is a regular subject of the studies of the calm-giving plants of the warm world.
Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications
The Indian snakeroot has one of the longest clinical records of any plant of the old practice. The small, white, funnel-shaped flowers open through the year, and the thick roots have a very long record in the old practice of the warm East, where they were kept for the calm and the sleep, and the roots went on to give the modern medicine one of its early blood-pressure remedies. The plant is a quiet, historic presence of the warm border, and the wild stands are best left to the care of the botanists. It has been written up in the medical and the botanical papers for the clinical record and the very long history of the root, and it is a fine, historic plant of the open, sunny to partly shaded, well-drained garden.
The Indian snakeroot is one of the historic medicine shrubs of the warm East, and the whorls of the narrow leaves keep the low shrub neat through the year. The small, white, funnel-shaped flowers open in the dense heads through the warm season.
To grow the Indian snakeroot from seed, sow the small, brown seeds at a shallow depth in a tray of moist, free-draining soil, keep the tray in a warm, bright spot and water gently. The seedlings are up within a few weeks and grow on slowly. With the sun or the light shade, the warmth and the well-drained ground, the white flowers will open through the year.
Reserpine is an alkaloid first isolated from R. serpentina and was widely used as an antihypertensive drug. It had drastic psychological side effects and has been replaced as a first-line antihypertensive drug by other compounds that lack such adverse effects, although combination drugs that include it are still available in some countries as second-line antihypertensive drugs.
Other plants of this genus are also used medicinally, both in conventional western medicine and in Ayurveda, Unani, and folk medicine. Alkaloids in the plants reduce blood pressure, depress activity of the central nervous system and act as hypnotics.