Harpagophytum
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''Harpagophytum'' ( ), also called grapple plant, wood spider, and most commonly devil's claw, is a genus of
plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...
s in the sesame family, native to
southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number o ...
. Plants of the genus owe their common name "devil's claw" to the peculiar appearance of their hooked fruit. Several species of North American plants in the genus '' Proboscidea'' and certain species of ''
Pisonia ''Pisonia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the four o'clock flower family, Nyctaginaceae. It was named for Dutch physician and naturalist Willem Piso (1611–1678). Certain species in this genus are known as catchbirdtrees, birdcatcher trees o ...
'', however, are also known by this name. Devil's claw's
tuberous Tubers are a type of enlarged structure used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants. They are used for the plant's perennation (survival of the winter or dry months), to provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growin ...
root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...
s are used in
folk medicine Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples, before the ...
to reduce pain.


Range

''Harpagophytum procumbens'' is mainly found in the eastern and south eastern parts of
Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
, Southern Botswana, and the Kalahari region of the Northern Cape, South Africa. '' H. zeyheri'' is found in the northern parts of Namibia (
Ovamboland Ovamboland, also referred to as Owamboland, was a Bantustan in South West Africa (present-day Namibia), intended by the apartheid government to be a self-governing homeland for the Ovambo people. The term originally referred to the parts ...
) and southern Angola.


Etymology

The generic name, ''Harpagophytum'', is derived from the
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
words ''harpago'' meaning "hook" and ''phyton'' meaning "plant".Ib Friis and Olof Ryding (Editors)


Folk medicine and research

The
ethnobotanical Ethnobotany is the study of a region's plants and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of a local culture and people. An ethnobotanist thus strives to document the local customs involving the practical uses of local flora for m ...
use of devil's claw originated in
southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number o ...
. ''H. procumbens'' is one of the
floral emblem In a number of countries, plants have been chosen as symbols to represent specific geographic areas. Some countries have a country-wide floral emblem; others in addition have symbols representing subdivisions. Different processes have been used to ...
s of
Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...
where it is thought to be useful in treating a variety of pain conditions. Preparations of the plant or its extracts, such as harpagoside, are presumed to have uses in
folk medicine Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples, before the ...
and
phytotherapy Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remed ...
as an
anti-inflammatory Anti-inflammatory is the property of a substance or treatment that reduces inflammation or swelling. Anti-inflammatory drugs, also called anti-inflammatories, make up about half of analgesics. These drugs remedy pain by reducing inflammation as o ...
herbal drug or dietary supplement. Although there is no accepted clinical evidence of its efficacy and
bioavailability In pharmacology, bioavailability is a subcategory of absorption and is the fraction (%) of an administered drug that reaches the systemic circulation. By definition, when a medication is administered intravenously, its bioavailability is 100%. Ho ...
, limited effects were noted for treating lower
back pain Back pain is pain felt in the back. It may be classified as neck pain (cervical), middle back pain (thoracic), lower back pain (lumbar) or coccydynia (tailbone or sacral pain) based on the segment affected. The lumbar area is the most common ...
and
osteoarthritis Osteoarthritis (OA) is a type of degenerative joint disease that results from breakdown of joint cartilage and underlying bone which affects 1 in 7 adults in the United States. It is believed to be the fourth leading cause of disability in the w ...
. A 2016
Cochrane review Cochrane (previously known as the Cochrane Collaboration) is a British international charitable organisation formed to organise medical research findings to facilitate evidence-based choices about health interventions involving health profes ...
of clinical research noted that devil's claw seems to reduce low back pain more than placebo, although evidence was of moderate quality at best. Further research in effects upon pain and inflammation have been found worth pursuing through 2022.


Adverse reactions

Side effects and drug interactions with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may occur, and caution exists for a variety of conditions, such as pregnancy and
cardiovascular disorder Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina pectoris, angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs in ...
s. Devil's claw may cause
diarrhea Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin w ...
and may interfere with the action of
ticlopidine Ticlopidine, sold under the brand name Ticlid, is a medication used to reduce the risk of thrombotic strokes. It is an antiplatelet drug in the thienopyridine family which is an adenosine diphosphate (ADP) receptor inhibitor. Research initially s ...
and
warfarin Warfarin, sold under the brand name Coumadin among others, is a medication that is used as an anticoagulant (blood thinner). It is commonly used to prevent blood clots such as deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, and to prevent st ...
.


Ecology and management

''Harpagophytum procumbens'' inhabits deep, sandy soils, and occurs in areas with low annual rainfall (150–300 mm/year). It is a perennial, tuberous plant with annually produced creeping stems. The above-ground stems emerge after the first rains and die back during droughts or after frosts. The stems grow from a persistent primary tuber and several secondary tubers (the harvested organs) grow from the primary tuber at the end of fleshy roots. The plant gets its scientific and common names from the hooked spines of its woody capsules (see photo). The mature fruit opens slowly so that, in a given year, only 20-25% of its seeds may establish soil contact. Seeds have a high degree of dormancy. They have a low respiration rate and may remain viable in the seed bank for more than 20 years. The sustainability of the trade in devil’s claw has been questioned for several years. The governments of each of the countries in which it occurs (range states; Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa) have developed policies and regulations to protect the species, to determine a sustainable harvest, and to provide for continued livelihoods for the harvesters. At various times, the species has been proposed for protection by the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). However, the range states have implemented measures to manage the trade sustainably and the proposal to protect the species by CITES was withdrawn. Various studies have examined the biological and ecological requirements of harvested and unharvested populations. Several early short-term studies in Botswana examined the ecological requirements of the species. Other, somewhat more recent studies inventoried the resource and examined sustainable harvesting methods. The ecological requirements of a harvested species must be known to manage the harvest of the species to ensure it is sustainable. Stewart and Cole (2005) examined the complex economic, social, and cultural factors involved in the harvest of the species. Stewart (2009) examined population structure, density, growth, mortality, and seed and fruit production in harvested and unharvested populations in the Kalahari savannas of South Africa. Plant density and population structure differed significantly between overgrazed and grass-dominated areas, suggesting that the differences may be due to competition for scarce water and nutrients. Experimental removal of secondary tubers (harvest) was not a significant factor for mortality in any of the harvested size classes. Harvest also did not affect growth, although plants in the medium size class grew more during the study period in both the harvested and unharvested populations. Fruit production was highly variable, and mature fruits were produced only under favorable conditions. Under the conditions of this experimental harvest, the species appears to be resilient to harvest, with plants subjected to harvest surviving as well as unharvested plants. However, due to the spatially variable nature of its habitat and the plasticity of the plants themselves, harvesting data from actual harvested areas from a large number of plants is required to better understand the life history of the species.


References


External links


Botany databases
at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation {{Taxonbar, from=Q9002121 de:Afrikanische Teufelskralle Lamiales genera Pedaliaceae Plants used in traditional African medicine