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Useful Tropical Plants

Jateorhiza palmata

(Lam.) Miers

Menispermaceae

+ Synonyms

Cocculus palmatus (Lam.) DC.

Jateorhiza columba (Roxb.) Oliv.

Jateorhiza miersii Oliv.

Menispermum columba Roxb.

Menispermum palmatum Lam.

Common Name: Calumba

Jateorhiza palmata
Drawing of the leaves, flowers, seed and root
Photograph by: Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen
Public domain
Jateorhiza palmata Jateorhiza palmata

General Information

Calumba is a dioecious, climbing shrub producing usually perennial woody stems from 2 - 5 metres long from a tuberous rootstock[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
,
328
Title
African Flowering Plants Database
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/recherche.php
Publisher
Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques.
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Contains information on over 150,000 plant names (including synonyms) giving a description and habitat, plus a distribution map.
]. In some areas, such as Mozambique, the stems can be annual[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
]. The tuber is gathered from the wild for local medicinal use[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
].
The plant has a long history of traditional medicinal use, and became very popular in Europe, where it was especially valued as a treatment for digestive problems for people with a weak stomach[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
]. Its importance in the West has dwindled considerably, but it is still sold there and used in proprietary herbal mixes[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
]. The plant is cultivated in several countries as a medicinal plant[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References


Range

Eastern tropical Africa - Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe

Habitat

Rain-forest; fringing forest; from sea level to elevations of 1,500 metres[
328
Title
African Flowering Plants Database
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/recherche.php
Publisher
Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques.
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Contains information on over 150,000 plant names (including synonyms) giving a description and habitat, plus a distribution map.
].

Properties

Medicinal Rating *  *  *
HabitClimber
Height3.00 m
Self-fertileNo
Cultivation StatusCultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

Not known

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

The root is the source of the formerly popular medicine 'radix calumbae' that was imported into Europe from Mozambique and Tanzania[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
]. It was used against dyspepsia and diarrhoea, being considered especially suitable for people with a weak stomach[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
]. The plant is still used in laxative herbal mixtures in Europe, and in herbal bitters in Italy and the United States[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
].
The succulent roots contain a number of medically active substances including the diterpenoid furanolactones columbin, palmarin and chasmanthin and several related glycosides including palmatosides A,G, and the protoberberine alkaloids palmatine, jatrorrhizine, bisjatrorrhizine and columbamine. They also contain traces of the sapogenins diosgenin and kryptogenin[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
].
They also contain about 1% of a greenish essential oil, consisting mainly of thymol, with a fragrance reminiscent of hay - older roots contain very little of the oil[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
].
The roots are rich in starch[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
].
Columbin has been shown to suppress the induction of adenocarcinomas in the colon by administration of the carcinogen azoxymethane. Columbin shortened the sleeping time induced by a urethane and α-chloralose mixture, but prolonged the sleeping time induced by hexobarbital. This may be explained by an effect of columbin on drug metabolizing enzymes in the liver[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
].
A methanol extract obtained from the rhizome inhibited the growth in vitro of a range of fungi tested[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
].

The root is considered to be anthelmintic, antipyretic, bitter, tonic[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
]. It is widely used as a treatment against diarrhoea and dysentery; gastric irritability; vomiting during pregnancy[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
]. Traditionally, it has been eaten as a treatment against snakebites, hernia and ruptures[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
].
The root scrapings are applied onto scarifications made in abscesses to mature them[
299
Title
Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa.
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://www.prota.org
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed -
Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2024-03-29. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Jateorhiza+palmata>

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