JUNIPER; ROBBINS; JOEL
The Carnivorous Plants. Part IV: Phytochemical Aspects
The Carnivorous Plants; 1989 Academic Press, ISBN 0-12-392170-8
NEPENTHES: Linnaeus gave the plant it's present name in 1753, in allusion to the story in Homer's Odyssey where Helen mixed wine with the drug 'Nepenthe' (Greek. literally 'No Mind') so that by drinking it man might be freed from care and grief. The shape of the pitchers in some species resembles the Greek rhincton or drinking horn. [Genera & distribution of pitcher plants] Heliamphora: British Guiana, Venezuela, Brazil. Darlingtonia: Northern California, Southern Oregon. Sarracenia: North America. Cephalotus: Western Australia. Nepenthes: Madagascar, Borneo, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Queensland Australia, Malaysia. AMINES: Histamine has been detected in the leaf tissues of a number of genera (Werle 1955). In both Nepenthes and Drosera the level appears to be higher in those parts of the leaf associated with the traps, though the level is variable. In these cases, as well as in Sarracenia and Pinguicula, the concentration is in the range 2-13 ug/g fresh weight. Acetylcholine-like compounds were also detected in Nepenthes (Morrisey 1963)... ALKALOIDS: Alkaloids, while not unknown, are relatively uncommon amongst the carnivorous plants. In view of their requirements for nitrogen in the molecules it is perhaps not suprising that these plants, living in nitrogen-limited environments, use other types of compounds as protective agents. Porcher (1849) was unable to detect morphine, nicotine or quinine in either Sarracenia flava or S. minor although Shepard (in Porcher 1849) reported a new alkaloid, possibly related to chinchonine. Sarracenia purpurea plants yielded veratrine (Hetet 1879), which possibly was Sheperd's alkaloid. Bjorklund (1864) isolated coniine from roots of S. purpurea but not leaves, though Lambert(1902) subsequently identified coniine as a volatile base produced by fresh leaves of this species. Romeo et al. (1977) could not, however isolate any alkaloid from all 10 species of Sarracenia but Mody et al. (1976) using large amounts of S. flava leaves (4.5 kg), showed that the unknown (1.9% total oil) C8H17N extracted by Miles et al.(1975) is again coniine. The other unknown C5H11NO (0.5%) may also be an alkaloid, but awaits identification. Recent work has not been able to confirm the presence of veratrine in Sarracenia. The variability in these reports may indicate seasonal and/or regional differences in alkaloid production, possibly related to carnivorous activity. Pinguicula vulgaris does not appear to contain any alkaloids (Christen 1961): nor does Nepenthes rafflesiana (Cannon et al. 1980).
MAHYAR UW; BURLEY JS; GYLLENHAAL C; SOEJARTO DD
Medicinal plants of Seberida (Riau Province, Sumatra, Indonesia).
J Ethnopharmacol. 1991 Feb; 31(2): 217-37
Field enquiries on the plants used to treat diseases in villages of Seberida Municipality indicated that a large number of plant species (at least 100) are being used in therapy. Many of the uses, however, are magical in nature. Those in which a cause-effect relationship may be established (56) are presented in this paper. A review of the ethnomedical and experimental literature showed that medicinal plant uses in Seberida fall into three categories: those for which uses are corroborated by similar medicinal uses for the same plant or different species of the same genus in other cultures, those for which uses of the plant or species of the same genus are corroborated by evidence of relevant pharmacological activity in the experimental literature and those for which the medicinal uses are not corroborated. A discussion of these categories is presented. Taken as a whole, the medicinal uses of plants in Seberida are characterized by a remarkably high proportion of plants used to treat fevers and malaria and by a high proportion of species of which the leaves are used (externally or internally) for medicinal purposes. Comparison with other studies reported in the literature seems to indicate that a high frequency of the use of leaves in therapy may be a part of a larger cultural phenomenon among the tropical forest tribes of Southeast Asia and the southern Pacific Islands. Possible rationales for this type of use are offered.