Polygala species

Emxdsin (synaptase), found in the seeds of the Bitter Almond, Cherry Laurel leaves, in the barks of the Wild Black Cherry and Choke Cherry and in other Rosaceous plant parts, in Manihot utilissima, Polygala species, etc., hydrolyzes the glucoside present (either amygdalin or 1-mandelonitrile glucoside) to hydrocyanic acid, benzaldehyde and glucose. 

With the exception of its absence in the western Pacific, the family can be considered cosmopolitan. Some members are cultivated ornamentals several species of Polygala have been medicinally used. 

Various species of Corydalis (fumewort, Fumariaceae) and Stephania (Jin bu huan) contain tetrahydropalmatine (1), which is the active constituent in Chinese Jin Bu Huan Anodyne tablets, sold on the Western market. The package insert suggested that Polygala chinensis is the source plant, but in reality this alkaloid comes from a species of Stephania. Both 1-tetrahydropalmatine and its racemic dl-form are used in Chinese medicine as analgesic and hypnotic agents. 

Documented effects Other species of Polygala have been shown to contain biologically active saponins that exhibit significant immunological properties in vitro (Desbdne et al. 1999 Estrada et al. 2000). 

The first main group of saponins is represented by some forty presenegenin glycosides (Fig. 104.1) in Polygala, Nylandtia, Carpolobia, Securidaca, and Atroxima species, half of them (1-22) being isolated from Polygala genus. 

This is another family with only one citation from a single species. The alkaloid tetrahydrocolumbamine was isolated form Polygala tenuifolia (140). 

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