Rauvolfia serpentina

Rauvolfia serpentina (L.)

Family     : Apocynaceae 

Common Name  :സർപ്പഗന്ധി(Mal)

        सर्पगंधा (Hin)

                                 Indian Snakeroot(Eng)

Sarpagandha is a famous tranquilizer and antipsychotic herb of India for the treatment of paranoia and schizophrenia, as well as a substance that controls hypertension. Sarpagandha is an erect, evergreen shrub, merely 15 to 45 cm high. Its leaves are large, in whorls of three - dark green above and pale green below. The flowers are white, pinkish or red, occurring in whorls. Its fruit are tiny, oval, fleshy which turn a shiny purple-black when ripe

Perennial subshrubs, rootstock thick, sap watery. Leaves simple, whorled, 3-4 at each node, 7-10 x 3 cm, oblanceolate, acuminate at both ends, glabrous; lateral nerves 8-12 pairs; petiole to 8 mm long. Flowers white, often tinged with pale violet in axillary and terminal, densely flowered corymbose cymes; peduncles to 5 cm long; pedicel 3-5 mm long. Sepals 4 mm long, oblong, acute. Corolla tube 15 mm long, slender, swollen little above the middle; lobes 5 mm long, oblong, obtuse. Disk copular, membraneous. Capsules 5 mm, ovoid, obtuse, black; fruiting calyx crimson.