Common Name:

General Information

Cryptolepis sanguinolenta is a climbing shrub producing thin stems up to 8 metres long that scramble over the ground and twine into other plants for support[]. The stems contain a yellow-orange juice that becomes red upon drying[]
The roots are collected from the wild for local use as a dye and medicine. They are sold in local markets for medicinal purposes and for dye extraction[]. Some proprietary antimalarial medicines have been developed from compounds in the root of this plant, including 'Phytolaria' in Ghana and 'Malarial' in Mali[]. The raw powdered plant and the freeze-dried aqueous extract have also been formulated into tablets and suppositories[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Senegal to Central African Republic and Uganda, south to Angola, DR Congo and Tanzania.

Habitat

Savannah, dry forest and in gallery forest, usually near water, at elevations from sea-level up to 850 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Climber
Height	7.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Not known

Edible Uses

Leaves - cooked and eaten as a vegetable[].

Medicinal

The roots have a bitter flavour and are tonic. They are chewed, while the root bark or root extracts are taken as a tea, to treat a wide range of conditions including fever, hepatitis, malaria, hypertension, urinary and upper respiratory tract infections, colic, stomach complaints, amoebic dysentery and diarrhoea, wounds, measles, hernia, snakebites, rheumatism and insomnia[].

The leaves and roots are rich in bioactive indole alkaloids such as cryptolepine, the major constituent of the root bark and the first alkaloid isolated from the plant[].
In an aqueous extract of the roots the only alkaloid detected was cryptolepine, and it constitutes the main or only source of yellow colorant in the dye baths[].
Cryptolepine has potent antiplasmodial activity, and also has anticancer, antifungal, antibacterial, hypotensive, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory and anti-hyperglycaemic activities[].
An ethanolic root bark extract showed potent anti-bacterial and moderate antiviral activities. The isolated compounds cryptolepine, hydroxycryptolepine, neocryptolepine, biscryptolepine and quindoline strongly inhibited the growth of Gram-positive bacteria and showed moderate or no activity against selected Gram-negative bacteria. They also possessed a bactericidal effect depending on the bacterial strain[].
Cryptolepine was found to possess moderate activity against Herpes simplex virus[].
The antibacterial activity of neocryptolepine and biscryptolepine was bacteriostatic rather than bactericidal[].
No antifungal activity was observed for the alkaloids against Epidermophyton floccosum, Trichophyton rubrum and Aspergillus fumigatus[].
The ethanol extract activity against Campylobacter strains is higher than that of commercial drugs. The ethanol extract and cryptolepine showed some activity against the Vibrio cholerae strains[].

Other Uses

The roots are a source of a yellow dye used for dyeing leather. The roots are crushed and ground in a wooden mortar, a little hot water is added and the mixture is stirred. It has a dull yellow colour and should be used immediately. The tanned goat skin surface is first treated with some groundnut oil and subsequently dipped in the dye bath, the extract being well rubbed into the surface. After a few minutes a piece of tamarind (Tamarindus indica) fruit paste is added. This paste, prepared from seeds and fruit pulp, is soaked in cold water and gradually warmed up until a pulpy mass develops. This new mixture is also rubbed in. The skin is exposed to the air for 2 - 3 minutes and after that again rubbed in with the mixture for about 5 minutes, wiped clean and hung up to dry. The effect of the tamarind fruit paste is to purify the colour as it removes the red tint that would result from the addition of alkali in the dye bath[].

The stem is used as a rope in house construction[].

Propagation

Seed - when sown as soon as it is ripe, the seeds showed 90 - 100% germination. Seedlings can be raised in polythene bags and then planted out at the start of the rainy season. Plants flower 10 months after sowing[].
The seed has a very short viability[].

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