Rauvolfia verticillata

Rauvolfia verticillata (Loureiro) Baillon, Hist. Pl. 10: 170. 1889.

(Rauvolfia verticillata (Loureiro) Baillon; Photo Paro Nguyen)

Vietnamese name: Ba gạc lá to,  Ba gạc Campuchia, hơ rác, ka day (Ba Na). Ba gạc cam bốt; cây nhanh, Día độc, Ka dạy, cây Nhanh

Chinese name: 萝芙木 luo fu mu

Latin Name: Rauvolfia verticillata (Loureiro) Baillon

Synonym Name: Dissolena verticillata Loureiro; Cerbera chinensis Sprengel; Ophioxylon chinense Hance; Rauvolfia altodiscifera Miau, Rauvolfia brevistyla Tsiang; Rauvolfia cambodiana Pierre ex Pitard; Rauvolfia chinensis (Sprengel) Hemsley; Rauvolfia latifrons Tsiang; Rauvolfia perakensis King & Gamble; Rauvolfia superaxillaris P. T. Li & S. Z. Huang; Rauvolfia taiwanensis Tsiang; Rauvolfia verticillata var. hainanensis Tsiang; Rauvolfia verti-cillata var. oblanceolata Tsiang; Rauvolfia verticillata var. officinalis Tsiang; Rauvolfia yunnanensis Tsiang.

Family: Apocynaceae

Description: Shrubs to 3 m tall, erect, glabrous. Branchlets pale gray, lenticellate. Lower leaves opposite, terminal leaves in whorls of 3 or 4; petiole 0.5-1.5 cm; leaf blade narrowly to broadly ovate or oblong, 3.5-25 X 5-13 cm, nearly papery to membranous; lateral veins 6 or 7 pairs. Cymes rather lax, 3-9 together; peduncle 2-15 cm. Pedicel 3-6 mm. Corolla white, tube cylindric, 1-1.8 cm, inflated and villous from middle to throat; lobes broadly elliptic or ovate, 1-4.5 mm. Stamens inserted at middle of corolla tube. Ovaries distinct. Drupes ellipsoid or ovoid, distinct, ca. 10 X 5 mm. Seed 1. Fl. Feb-Oct, fr. Apr-Dec.

Distribution: Found in E . Asia - southern China, Indian subcontinent, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines. In Vietnam: Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên Huế, Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Đắk Lắk.

Ecological: Lowland, montane rain forests, monsoon forests, brush fields, river banks, rice fields, seashores; 0-1700 m

Chemitry: Alkaloid: Indole alkaloids as ajmalicine B, sandwicine, raunescine, 7 hydroxynoracronycine, ajmalicine B.

Pharmacology: antihypertensive activity.

Uses: antihypertensive, sedative, dysentery (Part use: Root bark).

Reference:

- theplantlist.org

- efloras.org

- Hong B, Li WJ, Zhao CJ.; Chemical constituents of Rauvolfia verticillata. Yao Xue Xue Bao. 2012 Jun;47(6):764-8.