Description :

Rauvolfia vomitoria (sarpagandha in India) is a shrub or a tree that varies widely in height. Rauvolfia usually grows from 0.5 – 20 metres tall, though specimens up to 40 metres have been recorded. The tree is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine and source of materials. Rauvolfia is commonly harvested from the wild and exported to places such as Europe as a source of compounds, especially reserpine, for the pharmaceutical industry. The Indian species Rauvolfia serpentina was formerly the main source of reserpine, but has been replaced to a large extent by Rauvolfia vomitoria. The plant is often grown as a shade tree and hedge in plantations and is cultivated in many parts of the tropics and subtropics as an ornamental and avenue tree. Rauvolfia in Ayurvedic medicine is mentioned to be useful in resolving toxicity generated by snake bite, scorpion bite, helping to reduce fever and healing ulcers. Rauvolfia vomitoria is widely used in traditional medicine in Africa and has also become a major source of a number of compounds used in the pharmaceutical industry, particularly reserpine, It contains in total between 40 – 80 different indole alkaloids. Reserpine is a well-known antihypertensive, useful in calming the nerves and as a sedative. Reserpine is a sympatholytic agent acting indirectly on the peripheral and central nerve terminals. Reserpine impairs the storage of biogenic amines resulting in depletion of norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin. Depletion of norepinephrine induces a lasting drop in blood pressure. Rauvolfia extract helps to improve social behaviour and supports action of analgesic in headache. Rauwolfia vomitoria extract with or without vitamin E improved the immunity and enhances the hematological indices of the experimental animals.