Cissampelos

Cissampelos
Cissampelos pareira illustration.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Menispermaceae
Genus: Cissampelos
L.
Species

19, including:
Cissampelos capensis
Cissampelos pareira
Cissampelos sympodialis

Cissampelos is a genus of flowering plants in the family Menispermaceae. Various species of this genus have a rich history of traditional use in the treatment of asthma, cough, fever, arthritis, obesity, dysentery, snakebite, jaundice and heart problems, blood pressure and skin-related problems. Moreover, many of these plants were traditionally used as curare applied as arrow poison during hunting.[1]

Cissampelos pareira is used in Chinese herbology, where it is called xí shēng téng (锡生藤) or (亞乎奴). The species is also known as abuta and is also called laghu patha in Ayurvedic medicine. An ethanol extract of Cissampelos sympodialis has been shown to have antidepressant-like effects in mice and rats.[2] The Maasai people of Kenya use Cissampelos mucronata as a forage for their cattle,[3] and the roots of it have been used to treat malaria and has been reported to be used for relief of abdominal and rheumatic pains, as a febrifuge, as diuretic, for prevention of abortions, against gonorrhea, leprosy, stomach pains, and whooping cough. A Tanzanian study showed that it does, in fact have some anti malarial properties, the same article says that Cissampelos pareira is used in Madagascar as an antimalarial as well.[4]

Selected species

21 accepted species + 1 newly discovered species

References

  1. ↑ Semwal DK, Semwal RB, Vermaak I, Viljoen A. From arrow poison to herbal medicine--the ethnobotanical, phytochemical and pharmacological significance of Cissampelos (Menispermaceae). J Ethnopharmacol. 2014;155(2):1011-28
  2. ↑ Almeida, R; Navarro, DS; De Assis, TS; De Medeiros, IA; Thomas, G (1998). "Antidepressant effect of an ethanolic extract of the leaves of Cissampelos sympodialis in rats and mice". Journal of Ethnopharmacology 63 (3): 247–252. doi:10.1016/S0378-8741(98)00086-5. PMID 10030729. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  3. ↑ Bussmann, R. W.; Gilbreath, Genevieve G; Solio, John; Lutura, Manja; Lutuluo, Rumpac; Kunguru, Kimaren; Wood, Nick; Mathenge, Simon G (2006). "Plant use of the Maasai of Sekenani Valley, Maasai Mara, Kenya". J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 2: 22. doi:10.1186/1746-4269-2-22. PMC 1475560. PMID 16674830.
  4. ↑ Gessler, M.C.; Nkunya, M.H.H; Mwasumbi, L.B.; Heinrich, M.; Tanner, M. (1994). "Screening Tanzanian medicinal plants for antimalarial activity". Acta Tropica 56 (1): 65–77. doi:10.1016/0001-706X(94)90041-8. PMID 8203297.
  5. ↑ New Species of Sand-Dwelling Plant Discovered in Bolivia, Paraguay

External links


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