Family: Apocynaceae
Common name: Wild Snake Root, Devil Pepper, Be Still Tree, American serpent wood, be still tree, devil root, milkbush
Bengali: বড চন্দ্রিকা Bar Chandrika , গন্ধনকুলী Gandhanakuli
Chinese: 异叶萝芙木
Hindi: बडा चन्द्रिका barachandrika, ChandrabhagaTamil: Pampukaalaachchedi
Malayalam: Pampumkolli, Kattamalpori
Telugu: papataku, palagaridi
Kannada: ದೊಡ್ಡ ಚಂದ್ರಿಕೆ dodda chandrike
Bengali: বড চন্দ্রিকা bar chandrika, গন্ধনকুলী gandhanakuli
Oriya: patalagarudi
Sanskrit: वनसर्पगंधा Vanasarpagandha, सर्पनसिनी Sarpanasini
Description: Low shrub 0.5–1.5 m, sometimes to 4 m tall, stems woody, tan gray, sap milky. Leaves opposite or, more often, in whorls of 4, 2–12 cm long, 1–6 cm wide, elliptic to oblong, tip pointed to blunt, base blunt. Flowers white, radially symmetrical, tubular, petal lobes to 0.4 cm long; blooms most of the year; inflorescence in axils of leaves and much shorter than subtending leaf. Fruit fleshy, red, rounded, 0.5–0.8 cm wide; in small dense clusters at ends of twigs; fruits most of the year. [A Field Guide to Plants of Costa Rica]
Activity: Allergenic, Analgesic, Antiaging, Antiedemic, Antirheumatic, Avicide, Curare, Diuretic, Expectorant, Hypotensive, Mydriatic, Narcotic, Parasiticide, Poison, Sedative, Tranquilizer.[Duke's Handbook of Medicinal Plants of Latin America]
Root—sedative, hypotensive. Plant juice, mixed with castor oil, is applied to skin diseases and to destroy parasites. The plant contains a number of alkaloids, including rauvolscine, ajmalicine, canescine, reserpine, pseudoyohimbine; yohimbine, corynanthene, raunescine, iso-raunescine and recanescine. [Indian Medicinal Plants An Illustrated Dictionary]
29 Published articles of Rauvolfia tetraphylla
