Snakeroots

ELEMICIN In varying amounts in citronella, elemi, mace, nutmeg, parsley snakeroot and tarragon. 

METHYLEUGENOL Up to 60% in various parts of the basil plant. Around 45% in snakeroot oil. In decent amounts in calamus, cas-sie, myrtle, pimento, pistacia, pteronia and some forms of tarragon. 

Product labels may be incorrect, accidentally or intentionally. Herbs may be mislabeled accidentally because of misidentification or the wrong part of the plant was picked. Other products may be mislabeled intentionally—a ginseng label may not disclose that the product contains mandrake (scopolamine) or snakeroot (reserpine) because of the high cost of pure ginseng [34]. Some herbal products may not declare the addition of prescription medications such as corticosteroids. 

But that was only one half of the logic behind the chemical-imbalance theory. The other half came from studies of reserpine, a drug that was extracted from Rauvolfia serpentina or the Indian snakeroot plant, which had historically been used to treat snakebite, hypertension, insomnia and insanity. In studies of animals, reserpine was reported to induce sedation and to decrease brain levels of norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine. Clinical reports indicated that some people became severely depressed when taking reserpine.14 Putting these two findings together, it seemed likely that reserpine made people depressed because it decreased neurotransmitter levels. 

The second alcohol toxin of significance is tremetol, the toxin found in white snakeroot in the midwest and ray less goldenrod in the southwest. Tremetol is an oily extract of the plant and was first associated with the toxic effects, and named appropriately by Couch in 1927. Tremetol is a mixture of methyl ketone benzofuran derivatives, including tremetone, dehydrotremetone, and hydroxytremetone (Beier and Norman, 1990). 

Smetzer, D.L., Coppock, R.W. and Ely, R.W. (1983). Cardiac effects of white snakeroot intoxication in horses. Equine Practice, 5, 26-32. 

Reserpine Alkaloid Antihypertensive (reduces blood pressure) Rauvolfia serpentina (Indian snakeroot)... 

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... 

Polygala senega (Senega, senega root, Seneca snakeroot)... 

Rauwolfia serpentina Benth, which derives its name from Leonhart Rauwolf, a 16th century botanist, and its serpentine root (Figure 56.1), has long been used in India for a variety of ailments. The discovery of its tranquilizing action, particularly in lowering the blood pressure, led to its introduction into Western medicine. The Rauwolfia alkaloids are derived from a family of tropical and semitropical plants related to oleander and periwinkle. They vary from small shrubs to tall trees. The important species from which the alkaloids are derived include Rauwolfia serpentina (Ophioxylon serpentinum or Indian snakeroot), R. micrantha, R. vomitoria, and R. hirsuta (Canescens heterophylla). 

Reserpine, an alkaloid, and the active ingredient of Rauwolfia serpentina, the Indian snakeroot, was the basis of the first major tranquilizer. Reserpine was used in the treatment of snake bites, high blood pressure, and... 

INDIAN SNAKEROOT -- Rauwolfia serpentina. Family Aponcynaceae (Dogbane family). 

Another fruitful means of identifying pharmacologically active natural products has been that of folk law remedies, many of which are plant products. Typical examples include alkaloids, such as atropine (from plants of the Solanaceae family, known to the ancient Greeks) and reserpine (from Rauwolfia serpentina, the snakeroot), which is popular in India as a herbal remedy for use as a tranquilizer or antihypertensive. Other chapters in the book relate to stigmines (based on phy-sostigmine, an anticholinesterase alkaloid from the Calabar bean in West Africa) that are used to treat Alzheimer s disease (Chapter 11-12), and opioid receptor ligands (based on morphine, the most important alkaloid of the opium poppy) for pain relief and as antitussives (Chapter 11-11). 

Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar periwinkle), Rauwolfia serpentina (Indian snakeroot), R. tetraphyllo (pinque-pinque, four-leaf devil pepper), R. vomitoria (African snakeroot), Vinca minor (periwinkle) (Apocynaceae)... 

Ligularia (Asteraceae) spp. milk from cow foraging on Eupatorium rugosum (white snakeroot) killed Abraham Lincoln s mother Nancy Hanks Lincoln... 

Indian snakeroot was found to contain a reserpine -like constituent... 

Draw a stepwise mechanism for the following reactions, two steps in R. B. Woodward s classic synthesis of reserpine in 1958. Reserpine, which is isolated from the extracts of the Indian snakeroot Rauwolfia serpentina Benth, has been used to manage mild hypertension associated with anxiety. 

Whereas Anderson urged Blackie to use the products of his lab, J. Julian Chisohn had to put the brakes on Blackie s well-intentioned efforts in forwarding indigenous barks to his Columbia lab I have 63,000 pounds of barks to reduce which will occupy sometime. You will therefore be kind enough to keep your stock until I have made some room for it. 97 Indeed, Chisolm recommended that those plants not requiring further preparation be forwarded directly where needed and not to him at all. In particular he suggested that boneset and snakeroot could be issued as is and made into teas and that wild cherry needed only to be steeped in water for twenty-four hours, a task any hospital steward could readily perform.98... 

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