Historically plants have played an important role in medicine. Through observation and experimentation, human beings have learnt that plants promote health and well-being. The use of these herbal remedies is not only cost effective but also safe and almost free from serious side effects. The village elders, farmers and tribal have tremendous knowledge about for health reasons started thousands of years ago and is still part of medical practices by folks of various regions of Indian sub-continents as well as several other countries including China middle East, Africa Egypt, South America and other developing countries of world. This review article shade a small beam of light on conservational strategies of medicinal plants as well as their marketing price in past and near future scenario. © 2011 IGJPS. All rights reserved.

Medicinal Plants of Rural India: A Review of Use by Indian Folks

Rauvolfia serpentina has long being used in India for the treatment of snakebites, hypertension, high blood pressure and mental illness. The present review deals with the extensive amount of work undertaken in recent years at different parts of the Indian subcontinent to explore the use of this plant in the treatment of different ailments by the tribals or the aboriginals as a part of their ethnomedical system. Different ethnic groups use this plant to treat snake, insect and animal bite, mental illness, schizophrenia, hypertension, blood pressure, gastrointestinal diseases, circulatory disorders, pneumonia, fever, malaria, asthma, skin diseases, scabies, eye diseases, spleen diseases, AIDS, rheumatism, body pain, veterinary diseases etc. This plant is also being used to prepare fermented food products.

Ethnobotanical aspects of Rauvolfia serpentina (L). Benth. ex Kurz. in India, Nepal and Bangladesh

The root of the Rauwolfia serpentina Benth (N. O. Apocyanaciae) has been in use in India for hundreds of years for a host of unrelated ailments. Since 1949, after the English publication of a clinical report by the author on Rauwolfia serpentina therapy in fifty cases of essential hypertension, the plant has gained universal acclamation as a useful therapeutic weapon in high blood pressure states. The whole subject of Rauwolfia serpentina therapy in hypertension has been reviewed up to the present time, including discussions on the history of the plant, its various species and types, nomenclature, geographic distribution, chemistry, pharmacologic actions and clinical studies, reported on the subject from all over the world.

Rauwolfia Serpentina in the Treatment of High Blood Pressure A Review of the Literature

Aus den schwach basischen Gesamtalkaloiden der Wurzelrinde von Diplorrhynchus condylocarfion(MUELL ARG) PICHONssp mossambicensis(BENTH) DUVIGN wurden 7 Alkaloide isoliert, die zwei Strukturtypen angehoren

Alkaloide aus Diplorrhynchus condylocarpon (MUELL. ARG.) PICHONssp. mossambicensis (BENTH.) DUVIGN

Rauwolfia is an important genus of the plant family Apocynaceae. There are nearly one hundred and twenty‐five species of Rauwolfia which are distributed all over the tropical regions of the world (1‐8). The most important member of the genus is R. serpentina Benth; the crude drug was known to the ancient Indians as a useful febrifuge (8), a remedy for snake bite, and as a cure for dysentery. In more recent times it has been used for insomnia, hypochondria and insanity.

The presence of alkaloidal principles in R. serpentina was first pointed out in 1890 by Greshoff (9). In 1933, Chopra, Gupta, and Mukherjee (10) reported the hypotensive activity of the material extracted from the plant and in 1931 Siddiqui and Siddiqui (11) isolated a series of crystalline alkaloids from R. serpentina. Active chemical and pharmacological interest in R. serpentina has resulted in the discovery of several new alkaloids (Table I). The isolation by Muller, Schlittler, and Bein (12) of reserpine, an alkaloid with pronounced hypotensive and sedative activity, has lent further impetus to the pharmacological and chemical study of the alkaloids of R. serpentha. A brief summary of the chemical aspects of R. serpentina will be presented in this review.

The alkaloids of Rauwolfia serpentina benth

Es wird die Isolierung von zwei neuen Alkaloiden aus Rauwolfia serpentina Benth. beschrieben. Die Bruttoformel C21H26O3N2 sowie physikalische und chemische Eigenschaften kennzeichnen sie als Isomere des Yohimbins, was durch die Bezeichnung Rauhimbin und Isorauhimbin zum Ausdruck gebracht wird.

A. Hofmann

Papers

Rauhimbin und Isorauhimbin, zwei neue Alkaloide aus Rauwolfia serpentina Benth. 2. Mitteilung über Rauwolfia‐Alkaloide