''Mostuea'' is one of only three genera of
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
s belonging to the small family
Gelsemiaceae
Gelsemiaceae is a family of flowering plants, belonging to the order Gentianales. The family contains only three genera: '' Gelsemium'', '' Mostuea'' and '' Pteleocarpa''. ''Gelsemium'' has three species, one native to Southeast Asia and southern ...
(the other two being ''
Gelsemium
''Gelsemium'' is an Asian and North American genus of flowering plants belonging to family Gelsemiaceae. The genus contains three species of shrubs to straggling or twining climbers. Two species are native to North America, and one to China and ...
'' and ''
Pteleocarpa''). ''Mostuea'' and ''Gelsemium'' were formerly placed in the family
Loganiaceae
The Loganiaceae are a family of flowering plants classified in order Gentianales. The family includes up to 13 genera, distributed around the world's tropics. There are not any great morphological characteristics to distinguish these taxa from ot ...
, while ''Pteleocarpa'' was placed variously in the families
Icacinaceae
The Icacinaceae, also called the white pear family, are a family of flowering plants,"Icacinaceae" At: Angiosperm Phylogeny Website At: Missouri Botanical Garden Website (see ''External links'' below).
consisting of trees, shrubs, and lianas, pri ...
,
Cardiopteridaceae
Cardiopteridaceae is a eudicot family of flowering plants. It consists of about 43 species of trees, shrubs, and woody vines, mostly of the tropics, but with a few in temperate regions.Vernon H. Heywood, Richard K. Brummitt, Ole Seberg, and Alas ...
,
Boraginaceae
Boraginaceae, the borage or forget-me-not family, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, trees and herbs in 146, to 156 genera with a worldwide distribution.
The APG IV system from 2016 classifies the Boraginaceae as single family of the or ...
, and others, before the description of the Gelsemiaceae was altered formally to accommodate it in 2014.
[Peter F. Stevens (2001 onwards). "Gelsemiaceae" At: ]Angiosperm Phylogeny Website
The Angiosperm Phylogeny Website (or APweb) is a website dedicated to research on angiosperm phylogeny and taxonomy.
The site is hosted by the Missouri Botanical Garden website and maintained by researchers, Peter F. Stevens and Hilary M. Davis ...
. At: Botanical Databases At: Missouri Botanical Garden
The Missouri Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located at 4344 Shaw Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri. It is also known informally as Shaw's Garden for founder and philanthropist Henry Shaw. Its herbarium, with more than 6.6 million ...
Website.[Nancy F. Refulio-Rodriguez and Richard G. Olmstead. 2014. "Phylogeny of Lamiidae". ''American Journal of Botany'' 101(2):287-299. .] ''Mostuea'' is native to
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
and
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...
. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the roots of certain ''Mostuea'' species are used as ritual
aphrodisiac
An aphrodisiac is a substance that increases sexual desire, sexual attraction, sexual pleasure, or sexual behavior. Substances range from a variety of plants, spices, foods, and synthetic chemicals. Natural aphrodisiacs like cannabis or cocai ...
s and
entheogen
Entheogens are psychoactive substances that induce alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior for the purposes of engendering spiritual development or otherwiseRätsch, Christian, ''The Encyclopedia of Psychoac ...
s in West Tropical Africa.
[De Smet, P.A.G.M. Some ethnopharmacological notes on African hallucinogens ''Journal of Ethnopharmacology'', Volume 50, Issue 3, March 1996, Pages 141-146.]
Taxonomy
![Ferdinand Didrichsen 1868 by Budtz Müller 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Ferdinand_Didrichsen_1868_by_Budtz_M%C3%BCller_02.jpg)
The genus was described by
Didrik Ferdinand Didrichsen and published in
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
in ''Videnskabelige Meddelelser fra Dansk Naturhistorisk Forening i Kjøbenhavn'' (translation: ''Scientific Announcements from the Danish Society for Natural History in Copenhagen'') 1853: 86. 1853.2. It is named in honour of the Danish botanist
Jens Laurentius (Lorenz) Moestue Vahl (1796-1854), son of the botanist
Martin Vahl
Martin Henrichsen Vahl (10 October 1749 – 24 December 1804) was a Danish-Norwegian botanist, herbalist and zoologist.
Biography
Martin Vahl was born in Bergen, Norway and attended Bergen Cathedral School. He studied botany at the University ...
. The
type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...
is ''
Mostuea brunonis''
Didr.[Quattrocchi, Umberto (2012). CRC World dictionary of medicinal and poisonous plants: common names, scientific names, eponyms, synonyms and etymology. Vol. IV, M-Q. CRC Press Taylor and Francis Group. page 2564.]
Description
Small
shrubs, undershrubs or, less commonly,
lianas, between 20 cm and 2m in height/length, having much-branched stems and slender twigs, these being either
glabrous
Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...
or clothed in simple
trichomes
Trichomes (); ) are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants, algae, lichens, and certain protists. They are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae. A covering of any kind of hair on a plant ...
. Leaves opposite with short
petioles and
blades ovate to very narrowly elliptic, variable in shape and size (often smaller in size on lateral branches) entire or with margins somewhat sinuate–dentate, veins pinnate and conspicuous.
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...
axillary or terminal, many-flowered, usually on short lateral branches. Flower: five-
merous Merosity (from the greek "méros," which means "having parts") refers to the number of component parts in a distinct whorl of a plant structure. The term is most commonly used in the context of a flower where it refers to the number of sepals in a ...
, dimorphic, corolla funnel-shaped, white, sometimes pale yellow, orange, or red, yellow at the base or not, 2·5 to 9 times as long as the calyx; tube approx 3 to 5 times as long as the lobes; corolla aestivation imbricate, corolla lobes spreading, orbicular or nearly so, rounded, entire or sometimes slightly sinuate–dentate. Fruit a
capsule, obcordate (heart-shaped,the point attached to the
pedicel
Pedicle or pedicel may refer to:
Human anatomy
*Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures
...
), bilobed or occasionally ellipsoid, flattened, with an impressed line in the middle, loculicidal (septa remain intact at maturity), 4–valved; valves hinging on the septum; cells with 1–2 seeds.
Species
Kew's Plants of the World Online website recognises the following ten species.
* ''
Mostuea adamii''
Sillans – Africa:
Guinea,
Liberia,
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...
* ''
Mostuea batesii''
Baker (syn. ''M. stimulans'') – Africa:
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
,
Gabon
Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...
,
Zaïre
Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...
* ''
Mostuea brunonis''
Didr. (including ''M. walleri'') – Africa (widespread),
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
* ''
Mostuea hirsuta''
(T. Anderson ex Benth. & Hook. f.) Baill. – Africa (widespread)
* ''
Mostuea hymenocardioides''
Hutch. & Dalziel – Africa: Guinea, Sierra Leone
* ''
Mostuea microphylla''
Gilg – Africa:
Democratic Republic of Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
, Kenya, Mozambique, S.
Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...
,
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
and Zaire
* ''
Mostuea muricata''
Sobral & Lc. Rossi – Southeast and west-central
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
* ''
Mostuea neurocarpa''
Gilg – Africa: Cameroon, Congo, Gabon
* ''
Mostuea rubrinervis''
Engl. – Africa: SE. Kenya to E. Tanzania
* ''
Mostuea surinamensis''
Benth.
George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...
– Northern Brazil and
Suriname
Toxicity and use in traditional medicine
As might readily be expected of a close relative of the notoriously toxic genus ''Gelsemium'', the genus ''Mostuea'' encompasses toxic, alkaloidal species with a variety of ethnobotanical applications as poisons and folk medicines.
*''Mostuea brunonis'': the young leaves are eaten to treat stomach ailments. Preparations of the twigs and leaves are said to have
analgesic effects upon body (muscular ?) pains and intestinal pain and to be beneficial in cases of
colitis
Colitis is swelling or inflammation of the large intestine ( colon). Colitis may be acute and self-limited or long-term. It broadly fits into the category of digestive diseases.
In a medical context, the label ''colitis'' (without qualification ...
and
dysentery
Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...
. The root decoction or infusion is considered to be effective as an
aphrodisiac
An aphrodisiac is a substance that increases sexual desire, sexual attraction, sexual pleasure, or sexual behavior. Substances range from a variety of plants, spices, foods, and synthetic chemicals. Natural aphrodisiacs like cannabis or cocai ...
, an
anthelmintic
Anthelmintics or antihelminthics are a group of antiparasitic drugs that expel parasitic worms (helminths) and other internal parasites from the body by either stunning or killing them and without causing significant damage to the host. They may ...
, an analgesic and a treatment for colds,
yellow fever
Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...
and kidney disease. The roots are chewed to treat stomach pain, the crushed roots are applied topically to treat wounds and snake bites and the root bark is used as an ingredient in
arrow poison
Arrow poisons are used to poison arrow heads or darts for the purposes of hunting and warfare. They have been used by indigenous peoples worldwide and are still in use in areas of South America, Africa and Asia. Notable examples are the poisons se ...
s.
*''Mostuea batesii'' (syn. ''M. stimulans''): the root bark is considered a powerful stimulant and aphrodisiac,
antimalarial
Antimalarial medications or simply antimalarials are a type of antiparasitic chemical agent, often naturally derived, that can be used to treat or to prevent malaria, in the latter case, most often aiming at two susceptible target groups, young ...
and
antileishmanial, while a decoction of the root bark is administered to children as an anthelmintic. Both the roots and stem bark are considered psychoactive (stimulant and hallucinogenic), aphrodisiac and
antipyretic
An antipyretic (, from ''anti-'' 'against' and ' 'feverish') is a substance that reduces fever. Antipyretics cause the hypothalamus to override a prostaglandin-induced increase in temperature. The body then works to lower the temperature, which r ...
. Also used in magic and ritual, including initiation rites.
Hallucinogen
![Raponda Walker](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Raponda_Walker.jpg)
De Smet (1996)
provides a short, but nonetheless informative overview of the (almost exclusively French) accounts of the use of ''Mostuea'' as a ceremonial entheogen with iboga-like aphrodisiac effects.
He notes that the first accounts of the psychoactive properties of Mostuea in the scientific literature are to be found in two papers by French botanist, taxonomist and explorer
Auguste Chevalier Auguste may refer to:
People Surname
* Arsène Auguste (born 1951), Haitian footballer
* Donna Auguste (born 1958), African-American businesswoman
* Georges Auguste (born 1933), Haitian painter
* Henri Auguste (1759–1816), Parisian gold and ...
(1873–1956) published in 1946 and 1947.
[Chevalier, A., 1947, Les Mostuea africains et leurs propriétés stimulantes, ''Revue de Botanique Appliqué'' 27, pps. 104-109.] Chevalier's informant was the
Catholic priest
The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...
and renowned authority on Gabonese language and culture, Father
André Raponda-Walker (1871–1968), who later included information on Mostuea in his own collaborative work of 1961 (with
Roger Sillans) on the ethnobotany of
Gabon
Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...
.
Chevalier reported that the inhabitants of the Gabonese region in the vicinity of the
Fernan Vaz Lagoon
Fernan Vaz Lagoon is a large lagoon on the Atlantic coast of Gabon. It is named for Fernão Vaz, the first European to reach it, and is known its wildlife and for the church at Mission Saint Anne, built in 1889 by Gustav Eiffel
Alexandre Gus ...
(
Ogooué-Maritime Province
Ogooué-Maritime is the westernmost of Gabon's nine provinces. It covers an area of 22,890 km. The provincial capital is Port-Gentil. It has a 2013 census population of 157,562.
The shores of Ogooué-Maritime are of the Gulf of Guinea to ...
) made ceremonial use of a certain root known as ''Sata mbwanda'' in Nkomi (one of the
Myene languages) and ''Sété mbwundè'' in
Bakole.
"This root" (writes Father Walker) "is considered to possess an action comparable to those of Tabernanthe iboga
''Tabernanthe iboga'' (iboga) is an evergreen rainforest shrub native to Central Africa. A member of the Apocynaceae family indigenous to Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Republic of Congo, it is cultivated across Central Africa ...
and Schumanniophyton. It is a potent aphrodisiac and also a stimulant. During nights set aside for dancing,the Blacks chew the roots, whole or grated, to drive away sleep. But the majority consume them during their dances - either on their own or mixed with Iboga - for the sexual excitement which they cause. Excessive use of this drug can lead to cerebral troubles".
ranslated from the French of Auguste Chevalierref name= "Chevalier Mostuea"/>
Chevalier notes that two species of ''Mostuea'' were used in the practices described above: ''M. stimulans'' ( - Latin ''stimulans'' = "stimulating" - now known correctly as ''M. batesii'') and ''M. gabonica'' (now ''M. hirsuta''), but that the former was used more frequently. He then proceeds to describe in detail roots of ''M. batesii'' which he had received and which, it is apparent from his description, were dried, unlike the fresh ones referenced by Raponda-Walker.
They are straight or zigzag in form, sometimes even corkscrew-shaped, of a brown colour, 15 to 25cm long, more or less branched and ending in slender rootlets; the biggest have about the thickness of a pencil (5mm in diameter) in the upper part, but very thin at the tip. The root bark is thin (1 to 1.5 mm thick) and difficult to peel off. The outer root bark is greyish-brown and wrinkled longitudinally while the inner bark...is of a whiteish grey. When wetted, it takes on a shade of white tinged with ochre or pink. Chewed whole, or reduced to powder before being placed in the mouth, the flavour of the root is very bitter at first but, after causing some salivation, becomes reminiscent of chewed kola nut. Thereafter, it causes a certain euphoria and, if the dose taken be rather strong, a sort of inebriation.
Parallels with hallucinogen-like effects of Gelsemium
In the second edition of their classic work on plant-derived psychotropic drugs ''The Botany and Chemistry of Hallucinogens''
Richard Evans Schultes and
Albert Hofmann
Albert Hofmann (11 January 1906 – 29 April 2008) was a Swiss chemist known for being the first to synthesize, ingest, and learn of the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Hofmann's team also isolated, named and synthesi ...
place ''Gelsemium sempervirens'' in a short appendix consisting simply of a list of the names of plants of dubious hallucinogenic use (the third and lowest level of confidence in their system of classification). The basis for such a placement rests on occasional references in the literature to instances of the use of ''Gelsemium sempervirens'' in contexts reminiscent of the use of a psychotropic drug. One such example ( - that invites comparison with Raponda-Walker's comments on Gabonese use of the related ''Mostuea'' - ) is to be found in
Louis Lewin
Louis Lewin (9 November 1850 - 1 December 1929) was a German pharmacologist. In 1887 he received his first sample of the Peyote cactus from Dallas, Texas-based physician John Raleigh Briggs (1851-1907), and later published the first methodical ...
's early 20th century classic ''Phantastica'':
during a severe attack of rheumatism a man took a large quantity of an alcoholic tincture of ''Gelsemium sempervirens'' a plant which is liable to act on the brain and the medulla oblongata. Noticing an appreciable result he continued to take it, and finally became a slave to the drug. He gradually augmented the quantity, and reached 30 gr. of the tincture in one dose. Slowly he became pale, agitated, and discontented. He wasted
Wasted may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
*'' Wasted: Tales of a GenX Drunk'', a 1997 memoir by Mark Judge
*'' Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia'', a 1998 autobiography by Marya Hornbacher
*'' Wasted: A Childhood Sto ...
away. Hallucination
A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the qualities of a real perception. Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and are perceived to be located in external objective space. Hallucination is a combinati ...
set in, and his state grew worse until disorders of the intelligence appeared. As he continued to increase the doses he fell into idiocy and died in a state of mental confusion
In medicine, confusion is the quality or state of being bewildered or unclear. The term "acute mental confusion" .
Lewin's "disorders of the intelligence" manifested in the later stages of the victim's ''Gelsemium'' addiction recall immediately Raponda-Walker's "Excessive use of this drug
'Mostuea''can lead to cerebral troubles". Furthermore, while there is no mention in Lewin's account of ''Mostuea''-like sexual excitation, there is mention of "agitation" recalling wakefulness / stimulation, and "hallucination". The full-blown addiction,
became a slave to the drug"suggests not merely the victim's relief from his rheumatic pain, but some pleasurable effect
ompare Raponda-Walker's "euphoria" induced by a moderate dose of ''Mostuea'' root
In the wider context of entheogens used in indigenous Gabonese religions
Like several other hallucinogenic plants used in the spiritual practices of Gabon, such as
Bwiti
Bwiti is a spiritual discipline of the forest-dwelling Punu people and Mitsogo peoples of Gabon (where it is recognized as one of three official religions) and by the Fang people of Gabon and Cameroon. Modern Bwiti incorporates animism, ancest ...
, ''Mostuea'' has languished in the shadow of the more celebrated drug Iboga, derived from the Apocynaceous shrub ''Tabernanthe iboga'' (as late as the 1960s, itself an obscure psychotropic - although now enjoying a new-found celebrity as a treatment for a variety of addictions - notably addiction to
heroin).
Raponda-Walker's account reveals certain problems inherent in the study of Mostuea: not only are the reported effects similar to those of Iboga, but the drug is (or was) often consumed with Iboga, such that a measure of confusion could easily arise as to which drug were responsible for the wakefulness and sexual arousal observed in the participants in Gabonese dance rites. It is also unclear if ''Mostuea'' is a true hallucinogen: in contrast to Iboga - which can evoke strong and colourful visions - there is no overt mention in the literature of such visual phenomena in ''Mostuea'' intoxication. Raponda-Walker likens the effects of ''Mostuea'' to those of Iboga which might - or might not - be understood to mean that it can cause visual hallucinations in addition to acting as a sleep-dispelling stimulant and aphrodisiac (in lower doses Iboga is used as stimulant - e.g. by lion-hunters who must remain alert and immobile for days on end - and also as a powerful aphrodisiac). Chevalier speaks only of "euphoria" and "a sort of inebriation" inviting comparison to opiate or alcohol intoxication rather than any visionary state.
Chemistry
As of 1996
the only chemical and pharmacological evaluation of the genus Mostuea which had been undertaken was that of Paris and Moyse-Mignan, carried out upon ''M. batesii'' (as ''M. stimulans'') in 1949.
[Paris, R. and Moyse-Mignan, H., Étude chimique et pharmacodynamique préliminaire d'une Loganiacée du Gabon: ''Mostuea stimulans'' A. Chev., ''Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences'' 229, pps. 86-88] These researchers found the alkaloid content of the leafy twigs to be a meagre 0.06% - compared with 0.15% in the entire roots and a more substantial 0.33% in the root bark (in keeping with reports that it was the roots and not the aerial parts of the plant that featured in Gabonese ritual use). Two of the alkaloids present in the root bark bore some resemblance to ''Gelsemium'' alkaloids: one showed similarities to
sempervirine, while the other exhibited certain properties similar to those of
gelsemine
Gelsemine (C20H22N2O2) is an indole alkaloid isolated from flowering plants of the genus ''Gelsemium'', a plant native to the subtropical and tropical Americas, and southeast Asia, and is a highly toxic compound that acts as a paralytic, exposu ...
. In neither case, however, was a definitive identification made.
Quattrocchi noted in 2012 that the terpenoid indole alkaloid
camptothecin
Camptothecin (CPT) is a topoisomerase inhibitor. It was discovered in 1966 by M. E. Wall and M. C. Wani in systematic screening of natural products for anticancer drugs. It was isolated from the bark and stem of '' Camptotheca acuminata'' (Campt ...
(better known as an active constituent of ''
Camptotheca acuminata
''Camptotheca'' (happy tree, cancer tree, or tree of life) is a genus of medium-sized deciduous trees growing to tall, native to southern China and Tibet. The genus is usually included in the tupelo family Nyssaceae, but sometimes included (wi ...
'',
Nyssaceae
Nyssaceae is a family of flowering trees sometimes included in the dogwood family (Cornaceae). Nyssaceae is composed of 37 known species in the following five genera:Averyanov, L. V. & Hiep, N. T. (2002). ''Diplopanax vietnamensis'', a New Specie ...
) had been isolated from the widespread species ''Mostuea brunonis'', which shares at least the aphrodisiac properties attributed in folk medicine to ''M. batesii''.
A recent study found ''Mostuea brunonis'' to contain several indole alkaloids. The stems and leaves yielded
gelsemicine,
mostueine and some related compounds and the roots sempervirine and (as noted above by Quattrocchi) the
quinoline
Quinoline is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound with the chemical formula C9H7N. It is a colorless hygroscopic liquid with a strong odor. Aged samples, especially if exposed to light, become yellow and later brown. Quinoline is only sli ...
-based alkaloid camptothecin.
[Prota4u website https://www.prota4u.org/database/protav8.asp?g=pe&p=Mostuea+brunonis+Didr. Retrieved at 10.44 on 6/10/20.]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q10332658
Gelsemiaceae
Gentianales genera
Entheogens