Duboisia
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- For the orchid genus, see Myoxanthus.
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 Duboisia myoporoides
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| Duboisia myoporoides R.Br. 1802 |
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Duboisia (commonly called Corkwood Tree) is a genus of small perennial shrubs to trees about 14 m tall, with extremely light wood and a thick corky bark.
They are native to Australia and New Caledonia.
The alternate, glabrous leaves are narrow and elliptical. The inflorescence is an open cymose panicle of apically small white flowers, sometimes with a purple or mauve striped tube. They flower profusely in spring. The fruit is a small, globular, black, juicy berry.
The leaves of Duboisia leichhardtii and Duboisia myoporoides contain the pharmaceutical important ingredients scopolamine and hyoscyamine and some other accompanying minor alkaloids. A derivative of scopolamine is the main active ingredient of the drug butylscopolamine, a potent antispasmodic and analgesic. These trees are commercially grown for the pharmaceutical industry.
Australian Aborigines chew the nicotine-containing dried leaves of Duboisia hopwoodii, mixed with ash from Acacia species. They call this pituri. The paleontologist, Dr Gavin Young, named the fossil agnathan Pituriaspis doylei after pituri, as he thought he may have been hallucinating upon viewing the fossil fish's bizarre form.
Duboisia arenitensis is a new Australian species, described in 1995.
Duboisia is used in homeopathy to treat problems with the mind, imbalance, conjuctivitis of the eye, dry cough and numbness of the extemities. [1]
