INDIAN SNAKEROOT: TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE TO MODERN MEDICINE

INDIAN SNAKEROOT
Botanical name: Rauvolfia serpentina
English name: Indian snakeroot, Rauvolfia
Indian names: Sarpgandha, Chhota chand (Hindi), Naakuli, Candrika, Chandramarah (Sanskrit), Chandra (Bengali), Chivanamelpodi (Tamil), Sarpagandhi, Palalagandhi (Telegu), Sutranabhu, Patalagaruda (Kannada), Dhanbarua (Oriya), Amelpodee (Gujrati), Amalpori (Malayalam), Adkai, Chandra (Marathi)
Family: Apocynaceae
Chromosome No: 2n= 22, 44

Indian snakeroot is an important medicinal plant in indigenous systems of medicines. It is indigenous to India and other tropical countries of Asia. International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) has declared it as an endangered species. Indian snakeroot occurs in the moist forests and shady places of tropical Himalayas and plains near the foothills up to an altitude of 1,300 m. It also occurs along the Ghats in Kerala in South India. It is also distributed to Malaysia and Java. Our ancient treatise Charaka Samhita (1000-800 B.C.) has described it as an antidote against snake-bite and insect stings. It finds mention in many folk-lores in central India. It has acquired a vernacular name ‘pagal-ki-dawaa’ due to its curative effect in insanity. The roots of Indian snakeroot have been used in indigenous traditional medicine for hundreds of years. Following the recent scientific research, it has also acquired a great importance in modem therapeutics after the discovery of its various chemical constituents.



The importance of Indian snakeroot can be judged from the fact that Michael J. Balick & Paul A. Cox started their book ‘Plants, People and Culture: The Science of Ethnobotany’ by quoting folklores on this plant from India. They quoted a legend that a mongoose feed on this plant before engaging in combat with cobras and locals also started using this plant as an antidote to snakebite.
Sometimes, other species of Rauvolfia such as R. tetraphylla and R. verticillata are used as adulterants with highly priced and rare R. serpentina (Indian snakeroot).











BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS


The generic name, Rauvolfia serpentina, was coined by the French Botanist, Plumiers in honour of well-known sixteenth-century German physician, botanist, traveller and author Leonard Rauwolf. The specific epithet, serpentina, is derived from snake-like roots of this plant.
Indian snakeroot plant is a perennial, glabrous and less branched undershrub growing to a height of up to 1 m. The root is stout, irregularly nodular, less branched, cylindrical, yellowish and growing to a depth of up to 40 cm. The leaves are whorled in a group of 3 at each node. They are simple, petiolate, elliptic lanceolate, acuminate, entire and up to 17 cm x 5.5 cm in size. They are dark green and shinning above and pale beneath. Inflorescence is a terminal umbelliform cyme. Flowers are bracteate, bisexual, actinomorphic and short pedicelled. It consists of bright scarlet 5-fid calyx, salver-shaped pink or rose-coloured corolla, 5 stamens and 2 carpels (2 ovules in each carpel). Fruit is a purplish-black drupe, about 5 mm in diameter.


TRADITIONAL USES
The roots of this plant have been used in India, Malaysia and Java from ancient times as an antidote to snakebite and the stings of insects. It was used as a remedy for fever and dysentery in rural India. Rumphius wrote that it was used both internally as well as externally. Internally, it was administered in the form of a decoction of the root. Externally, a plaster of the roots and fresh leaves was applied on the soles of the feet.
Recently, many ethnobotanical studies on Indian snakeroot have been carried out in many parts of the country. These studies have reported various uses such as in snakebite, insomnia, melancholia, schizophrenia, insanity, anxiety, excitement, malarial fever, pneumonia, spleen diseases, asthma, for uterine contractions, opacities of the cornea, etc. The roots with bark are collected in autumn from 3-4 years old plants for traditional use.



CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS
Rauvolfia serpentina contains more than fifty alkaloids, oleoresins and starch. The total alkaloid yield from root is 0.8%. The alkaloids are of the indole alkaloid family. The major alkaloids present in the roots are ajmaline, ajmalicine, ajmalimine, deserpidine, indobine, indobinine, reserpine, reserpiline, rescinnamine, rescinnamidine, serpentine, serpentinine, rauwolfine, rauhimbin, isorauhimbin and yohimbine. The first researchers to isolate alkaloids from Indian snakeroot were Siddiqui & Siddiqui (1931, 1932, 1935, 1939). They isolated ajmaline (named after famous Hakim Ajmal Khan), ajmalinine, ajmalicine, serpentine and serpentinine. Reserpine, an important and physiologically active alkaloid, was isolated by two chemists Schlittler & Schwartz (1949) from CIBA Pharmaceuticals, Switzerland.








Reserpine


MODERN MEDICINAL USES
There is mention of sarpagandha and its medicinal uses in our Ayurvedic texts. According to Ayurveda, sarpagandha root is bitter, acrid, heating, sharp and pungent. It is considered as antihypertensive and sedative and recommended for the treatment of various central nervous system disorders such as psychosis, schizophrenia, insanity, insomnia, and epilepsy. Sarpagandha ghanavati, Sarpagandha yoga, Sarpagandha churna, Mahesvari vati are some of the Ayurvedic preparations containing roots of sarpagandha.
After the discovery of various alkaloids and their pharmacological activities, many modern drugs have been designed from Indian snakeroot so far. For example, reserpine, an indole alkaloid, is used in high blood pressure (hypertension), as a sedative, in neuropsychiatric, insomnia, menopausal syndrome and other gynaecological problems. However, in higher dozes, reserpine can cause nasal congestion, nausea, vomiting, gastric ulceration, stomach cramps and diarrhea.
Some of the modern preparations containing purified alkaloids of Rauvolfia serpentina are: Serpasil (CIBA Pharma Limited, Switzerland), Ralfen (Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works, Calcutta), Serpina or S 117 (Himalaya Drug Company, Dehradun), Raudixin (Sarabhai Chemicals, Ahmedabad), Adelphene (CIBA India Limited, Mumbai), etc.

CULTIVATION
Indian snakeroot plant is mostly propagated through seeds. However, it can also be propagated vegetatively through cuttings. It prefers the areas where the annual rainfall is more than 250 cm. It can be grown best on the well drained soil rich in humus and organic matter. The saplings are planted at a distance of 45 × 30 cm. The plants become ready for harvesting after three years.

BLACK PEPPER: MEET THE KING OF SPICES

(Photograph courtesy: Sh. Thilak Makkiseril, Kochi, Kerala)

English names:     Black pepper, Peppercorn

Indian names:      Kali mirch, Kala mirch (Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi), Maricha, Ushana, Hapusha (Sanskrit), Kalimrich, Kalamari (Gujrati), Kare minasu, Kurumulaku (Kannada), Milagu (Tamil), Miriyala  (Telgu) 

Botanical name:   Piper nigrum 
Family:                 Piperaceae
Chromosome No:  2n= 52

Black pepper is a perennial climbing vine grown for its berries that are extensively used as spice and in medicine. It can be variously processed to prepare black, green, red and white peppercorns. Black pepper, native to south India, is extensively cultivated in the Oriental tropical regions. Black pepper is generally referred as ‘king of spices’ or ‘black gold’, due to its widespread use, great commercial importance as well as its innumerable medicinal applications. It finds an important place in every kitchen and deserves a royal recognition. It is one of the most common spices added to cuisines worldwide. It used to be one of the very first items of commerce between India and Europe. It was valued so important in old times that many expeditions were made in search of peppercorns. Sometimes, it was used as commodity money in trade during the medieval times due to its very high value. It is the most traded spice in the world.  The calorific value of dry and green peppercorn is 304 and 98 kilo calories respectively. The characteristic aroma and pungency in black pepper is due to presence of piperine, S-3-carene and β-caryophyllene.

Vietnam is the largest producer (216,432 tonnes annually) and exporter of black pepper in the world, contributing 34% of the world's harvest (FAOSTAT, 2015). Other major pepper producing countries are Indonesia (89,000 tonnes), India (55,000 tonnes),  Brazil (42,000 tonnes) and China (31,000 tonnes). An area of 527,848 hectare was under pepper cultivation in the world in 2016, which produced 546,259 tonnes of peppercorns. An area of 129000 hectare is under pepper cultivation in India (FAOSTAT, 2016) with a production of 55,000 tonnes of peppercorns. In India, it is mostly cultivated in Kerala (more than 90% production), Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Origin and Domestication

Black pepper is believed to be originated in south India, South Asia and Southeast Asia.  It is known to Indians since very long and is integral part of Indian cooking since at least 2000 BC. It was grown in southern Thailand, Java, Sunda, Sumatra, Madagascar and Malaysia during the medieval times.

Botanical Characteristics

The black pepper (Piper nigrum) plant is a week-stemmed, glabrous, perennial and woody climbing vine. It can grow up to a height of 4-6 m on supporting trees (sometimes also on poles or trellises). However, vines can grow to 8-15 m in wild conditions. Stem is branched, has long internodes and develops roots on the nodes which help in climbing. It has two types of branches, the orthotropic climbing branches and the plagiotropic fruiting branches. Leaves are simple, alternate and often unequal sided. They are coriaceous, dark green and shiny above and pale and gland dotted below. The lamina shape is cordate to ovate in orthotropic branches and ovate to ovate-elliptic on plagiotropic branches.  Inflorescence is a pendant spike borne opposite to the leaf on fruiting branches. The spikes are 2-17 cm long and bear up to 100 minute flowers. Cultivated vines are monoecious exhibiting variability in the composition of male, female and hermaphrodite flowers. The high yielding cultivars have 70-100% bisexual flowers. The black pepper is a self pollinating plant. The fruit is a sessile globose drupe (though known as berry) with a pulpy pericarp. The green unripe fruits turn red on ripening and turn black after drying. Each has a minute embryo with little endosperm and copious perisperm.

 (Photo source: Wikipedia @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_pepper)

Cultivation

Black pepper crop can be successfully grown in humid (rainfall of 125- 250 cm) and warm tropical climate. Plants prefer fertile and well drained loam soil. The seeds, although fully viable, are not commonly used for raising nursery plantations.  Black pepper plants are propagated through cuttings taken from runner shoots (which originate from the base of the vine and creep on the ground) to obtain genetically uniform nursery. The runner shoots develop roots at each node on the ground. The rooted cuttings are planted during the rainy season. The pits of 50 cm³ at a distance of 30 cm away from the base are prepared on the north, eastern or north eastern side of the supporting trees.

The pits are filled with a mixture of top soil, farmyard manure @ 5 kg/pit and 150 g rock phosphate. Two to three rooted cuttings of black pepper are planted individually in each of the pits after the onset of monsoon.  The vines are allowed to climb on the supporting trees (also called standard). Sometimes, they are allowed to trail only up to 1.5 m, and thereafter, separated from the standard and again buried in the soil near the standard. This induces development of more leader shoots, covering of the entire standard and development of more laterals from the base of the standard. Most favoured supporting trees for black pepper in India are coconut, areca nut, mango and jack-fruit. ICAR-Indian Institute of Spices Research has recommended manuring in May with farm yard manure @ 10 kg per vine and with NPK @ 50: 50: 150 g/vine/year, when the vines become 3 years old and above. Azospirillum can also be used as a biofertilizer ( @ 50 g/vine) in black pepper crop to obtain organic product. The harvesting is done manually through hand picking as soon as one or two fruits at the base of the spikes begin to turn red. The collected spikes are dried under the sun and then the peppercorns are stripped off from the dry spikes.

Varieties

1.   General Varieties: Karimunda, Kottandan, Narayankodi, Aimpiriyan, Balamkotta, Cheriakodi, Kalluvalley, Morata, Neelamundi, Uthirakotta, Uddagare, etc.

2.   Improved Varieties: Sreekara, Subhakara, Panchami, Pournami, PLD-2, IISR-Thevam, IISR-Girimunda, IISR-Malabar Excel, IISR-Shakthi

Types of Peppers

1.   Black Pepper: It is processed from the green, unripe drupes of the pepper plant. They are put briefly in hot water (directly dried in some cases) to clean and to prepare them for drying. Thereafter, they are dried for several days. The fruit wall shrinks and darkens into a thin and wrinkled black layer around the fruits.

2.   White Pepper: It represents the true seed of the pepper plant. Fully ripe drupes are soaked in water or heaped for about a week and allowed to ferment. After retting or decomposition, outer layer of the fruit is separated and washed, leaving behind white coloured fruits. They are dried and stored for further use.

3.   Green Pepper: It is processed from the unripe drupes like black pepper. The fresh green peppercorns are canned or treated with sulphur dioxide or freeze-dried to retain the green colour.

4.   Red or Orange Pepper: It consists of fully ripe red pepper drupes preserved in brine and vinegar. They can also be dried using the colour-preserving techniques followed to prepare green pepper.

 (Photo source: Wikipedia @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_pepper)

Chemical Constituents

α-Pinene, β-Pinene, 1-α-Phellandrene, Piperonal, Dihydrocarveol, β-Caryophyllene, Piperidine,  etc.

Aromatic and slightly musty odour of black pepper is due to the presence of volatile oils found in the flesh and skin. The pungent taste of peppers is due to alkaloids and resins mostly found in seeds.

Uses

1.       Universal Spice and Condiment: Pepper is one of the oldest and world's most important spice. Because of its widespread and wide ranging uses in kitchen. It forms an integral part of all the readymade garam masala available in the Indian market.

2.       Flavouring Ingredient: Pepper is used as a flavouring ingredient in non-alcoholic beverages, candies, baked foods, meat products and cheese.

3.       Pepper Oil: Pepper oil obtained from peppercorns is used as an adjunct in flavouring of sausages, canned meat, soups and table sauces.

4.       Anti-oxidant: Various scientific studies have proved that black pepper has strong anti-oxidative properties and delays aging.

5.       Medicinal Uses: Black pepper has high medicinal value and therefore, widely used to stay healthy and also to treat various disease conditions. The pepper fruits have carminative, aphrodisiac, diuretic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic and stimulant properties. They have been reported to be useful in arthritis, asthma, fever, cough, dysentery, dyspepsia and flatulence. It stimulates the digestive juices and enzymes and promotes digestion. Recent studies have shown that piperine present in black pepper protects against different forms of cancers and also lowers the blood pressure. Black pepper delays the brain aging and also prevents Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

6.       Insecticide: Piperine present in peppercorns is an effective insecticide against houseflies and other insects. 

7.      Flovouring of Alcoholic Drinks: Piperine present in black pepper is used to impart a pungent taste to brandy in some countries.

Further Reading

Ø  Cumo, C. 2013. Encyclopedia of Cultivated Plants.  ABC-CLIO, LLC. 

Ø  Daniel, M. 2013. Useful Herbs of Planet Earth. Scientific Publisher, Jodhpur. 

Ø  Kochhar, S.L. 2016. Economic Botany: A Comprehensive Study. Cambridge University Press.

Ø  Lim, T.K. 2012. Edible Medicinal and Non-Medicinal Plants: 4. Fruits. Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Ø Thakur, A.K., Bassi, S.K. and Kango, N. 2018. Economic Botany and Biotechnology. S. Dinesh & Co., Jalandhar.