Rauvolfia is a perennial undershrub widely distributed in India in thesub-Himalayan regions up to 1,000 metres (3,300 ft).
Sarpagandha is used in folk medicine in India for centuries to treat a wide variety of maladies, including snake and insect bites, febrile conditions, malaria, abdominal pain, and dysentery. It was also used as a uterine stimulant, febrifuge, and cure for insanity. The plant was mentioned in Hindu manuscripts as long ago as 1000BCE.[8]
A 2016 review found thatreserpine reducedsystolic blood pressure (SBP) by about 8 mmHg compared to placebo, and may be as effective at reducing SBP as other front-line hypertensive drugs, although more research is needed to determine a dose-specific safety profile.[10]
^"Rauvolfia serpentina". US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. 1992-2016. Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases. 10 September 2018. Retrieved25 November 2018.
^abc"Rauwolfia serpentina root". DrugBank, Canadian Institutes of Health Research. 2 November 2018. Retrieved25 November 2018.
^eFloras."Rauvolfia serpentina".Flora of China. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA. Retrieved9 April 2012.
^Oudhia, P. and Tripathi, R.S. (2002). Identification, cultivation and export of important medicinal plants. In Proc. National Seminar on Horticulture Development in Chhattisgarh: Vision and Vistas. Indira Gandhi Agricultural University, Raipur (India) 21-23 Jan. 2002:78-85.
