Rauvolfia serpentina

Rauvolfia serpentina (L.) Benth. ex Kurz, Forest Fl. Burma 2: 171 1877. (Syn. Ophioxylon album Gaertn.; Ophioxylon obversum Miq.; Ophioxylon salutiferum Salisb.; Ophioxylon serpentinum L.; Ophioxylon trifoliatum Gaertn.; Rauvolfia obversa (Miq.) Baill.; Rauvolfia serpentina var. obversa (Miq.) Bakh. f.; Rauvolfia trifoliata (Gaertn.) Baill.);
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Indian snakeroot, java devil pepper, ichneumon-plant, insanity herb, rauvolfia root, rauwolfia, serpentine wood, snakeroot, snakewood • Assamese: arachoritita • Bengali: চন্দ্র chandra • Gujarati: સર્પગંધા sarpagandha • Hindi: chandrabhaga, छोटा चांद chota-chand, नाकुली nakuli, सर्पगंधा sarpagandha • Kannada: ಸರ್ಪಗನ್ಧ sarpangandha, ಸರ್ಪಗನ್ಧೀ sarpagandhi, ಶಿವನಾಭಿಬಳ್ಳಿ shivanabhiballi, sutranavi, ಪತಾಳಗನ್ಧೀ patalagandhi • Malayalam: അമല്പൊരി amalpori, chuvannavilpori, സര്പ്പഗന്ധി sarppagandhi, suvapavalporiyam • Marathi: harkaya, harki, नाकुली nakuli • Oriya: patalagarar, sanochado • Sanskrit: चन्द्रिका chandrika, नाकुली nakuli, पातालगरुड patalgaruda, सर्पगंधा sarpagandha • Tamil: chevanamalpodi • Telugu: patalaguni, patalagaruda, sarpagandha • Urdu: چاند چهوٿا chota chand, ناکلي nakuli;
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These are shiny bright green on the upper surface & pale green on the lower surface. Flowers are white / violet ting.
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Folks will use these roots rubbed on stone with water & light yellow paste is obtained & applied for wounds, fever, nervous disorders, giddiness, abdominal pain etc.;
Besides its medicinal value, people believes that it deters snakes;
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This Critically Endangered species is also in the Negative List of Exports of Govt. of India, as well as in the Appendix II of CITES. The collection of this species from wild and its trade is banned.
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As per efi thread : Sarpagandha and Chasalia comes under the same family Rubiaceae. The inflorescence looks alike when in flower (except the size; flowers are smaller and straight in Sarpagandha). Sarpagandha plants are always smaller than Chasalia. Fruiting inflorescence of Sarpagandha is red whereas in Chasalia it is white.
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25032011 pj3 sharing:
Please find attached rauvolfia serpentina photographed during monsoon. These are shiny bright green on the upper surface & pale green on the lower surface. Flowers are white / violet ting. Folks will use these roots rubbed on stone with water & light yellow paste is obtained & applied for wounds, fever, nervous disorders, giddiness, abdominal pain etc. We have good population of this herb.

Please take necessary steps to conserve its population in your area, and protect it from the illegal traders.
As you may know, this Critically Endangered species is also in the Negative List of Exports of Govt. of India, as well as in the Appendix II of CITES. The collection of this species from wild and its trade is banned.

Beautiful shots of Sarpgandha

Thank you …, we also call it SARPAGANDHA in Bengali. We planted those sarpagandha in our school premises and in some of our students’ home-yard in 2009. Moreover, those saplings were collected from the wild.

dont know about this one
but old english 2-3 hundred yeas ago used to have different use of w, u yu, s, f, etc… they could not /would not differentiate between these….
like present day bengalis cant differentiate va, ba, bha of modern devnagari and if v is written to denote va they pronounce it bha…. did you see the latest movie kahaani… devi…debi…vidya bidya confusion?
so w or u in sarpagandha….

Yes & No! Yes, we too have one or two of these confusion. Our school is Vidyamandir, while on the other hand we do not say vidya as in normal practice. There is li and la-e-hraswi ! No, i didn’t see kahani yet!

We had a discussion earlier on this issue. Dear … had answered this query.
I am copy pasting what he had written in the post.
….. Just for correction. I realized that the accepted spelling is Rauvolfia L. and not Rauwolfia L.
WHY?
Because it was named by Linnaeus like that although the name of person on which the name of taxa was based was Leonhard Rauwolf (also spelled Rauwolff) [(Augsburg, June 21 in either 1535 or 1540 – September 15,
1596, Waitzen, Hungary) was a German physician, botanist and traveller].
Rauvolfia Plum. ex L. Sp. Pl. 1: 208. 1753

resolved? not really…
or yes, may be ha ha …
but there is NO V in this spelling or two of Dr Leonhard Rauwolf (also spelled Rauwolff name…
that was the original question, was not it?

Rauvolfia serpentina: This plant is growing in our garden at Tala Bandhavgarh Umariya M.P.

This is Rauvolfia serpentina

Rauvolfia serpentina (Early fruiting stage)

Found in Bangalore
3rd May

Rauvolfia serpentina (L.) Benth. ex Kurz [Apocynaceae].

Rauvolfia serpentina, Rare in Bangladesh

Rauvolfia serpentina (L.) Benth. ex Kurz from Assam: 2 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (6).

Well, okay. Please carry on

Yes it is. It is found in the area as wild.

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Rauvolfia serpentina.

Instinctively looks like Rauvolfia serpentina. Closer look in the field will confirm ID.

Seems Rauvolfia serpentina…!!

Accepted name. Is it frequent there?

This was my first sight but I believe it is abundant in moist forest from msl to 1200 m.

Thanks, …, Do you have any image showing full plant?

yes full plant would help

Can this be Rauvolfia serpentina?

I was a bit too slow. I see that Rauvolfia serpentina has already been suggested

Had it been Rubiaceae, the calyx lobed would have been seen over the top of the fruit… so it is Apocynaceae…

Good observation …; I endorse with you.

so my first impression was ok. yet in the pictures, the fruits berries seem “jointed”. does that bother anyone or is it just the angle of photo

thanks for the scientific reason. did you look at the fruits i have question about
do you see what i see? but do take a look. just for my sake.

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Yes, it is dear …, thank you very much for ID my plant,

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