Rauvolfia tetraphylla

Lastra H, Palacios M, Menendez R, Larionova M et al. 1982 Chemical evaluation and pharmacology of Rauvolfia tetraphylla and Rauvolfia cubana. First Latin American and Caribbean Symp Pharmacologically Active Natural Products, Havana, Cuba, June 21 -28. UNESCO, Paris, p. 172... 

Rauwolfia is the dried rhizome and roots of Rauwolfia (sometimes Rauvolfia) serpentina (Apocynaceae) or snakeroot, a small shrub from India, Pakistan, Burma, and Thailand. Other species used in commerce include R. vomitoria from tropical Africa, a small tree whose leaves after ingestion cause violent vomiting, and R. canescens = R. tetraphylla) from India and the... 

The genus Rauvolfia (about 150 species from the tropics and subtropics) has long been used medicinally. Authenticated reports of the use of R. serpentina as a medicine date back to 1000 b.c. The hypotensive activity of die drug was reported in 1933. As indigenous supplies became depleted in India, the development of R. vomitoria, an African species, and R. tetraphylla, a Central American species, was carried out (Cordell, 1981 Tyler et al., 1981). Because the root of Rauvolfia serpentina contains more than 50 alkaloids, it is not surprising that the crude drug differs in activity from isolated reserpine (39) (Fig. 34.11) (Tyler et al., 1981). The crude drug contains from 0.15% to 0.20% alkaloids. 

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