Common Name:

General Information

Tabernaemontana coffeoides is a shrub or a tree that usually grows up to 7 metres tall, occasionally to 10 metres. The bole can be 10cm in diameter, occasionally to 20cm[, ].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine and source of wood and fibre. It is very rich in pharmacologically interesting indole alkaloids. This warrants more investigations towards its possible development as an important medicinal plant[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Africa - Madagascar and the Comoros to the Seychelles.

Habitat

Dunes or rocks, often on limestone, in dry forest, bush or savannah, at elevations up to 1,300 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Tree
Height	5.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

The plant can flower and produce fruit all year round[].

Edible Uses

The bitter bark is added to alcoholic beverages, some of which are used during circumcision rituals[].

Medicinal

The bitter twig bark is chewed to combat fatigue and to suppress hunger[]. A twig or bark infusion is reputed to promote weight loss as it reduces appetite[].
The bitter bark is added to alcoholic beverages, some of which are used during circumcision rituals[].

Tabernaemontana coffeoides contains mainly monomeric indole alkaloids, although some bisindolic alkaloids occur in the leaves as well[]. The root bark contains most alkaloids, followed by the stem bark and the leaves[].
The alkaloids of the root bark, stem bark and leaves consist for up to 50% of vobasine, tabernaemontanine, dregamine, methuenine and silicine (all corynanthean class); small amounts of apparicine (pericalline, aspidospermatan class) are also present[].
The alkaloids of the stem bark and root bark also contain 12 - 16% of ibogamine (ibogan class).
The leaves also contain many alkaloids of the plumeran class including the pharmacologically active tabersonine. They also contain akuammidine and normacusine B (both corynanthean class), heyneanine (ibogan class) and vincanidine (strychnan class). In addition they contain the dimeric hazuntiphylline ( plumeran-plumeran class) and stemmadenine (conynanthean-plumeran class)[].
Dregamine shows convulsant and respiration-stimulant activities. It also inhibits muscular fatigue in the same way as ibogaine from Tabernanthe iboga. It has been used in treatments of muscular and nervous asthenia, respiratory depression and type III poliovirus (HPV-3)[].
Tabernaemontanine has a vasodilatory effect and can be used in humans in cases of arteriosclerosis, cerebral trauma and circular irregularities. It shows antibacterial activity against several human pathogenic bacterial strains, and is cytotoxic to human nasopharyngeal epidermoid carcinoma cells in vitro, but is inactive against P-388 lymphocytic leukaemia in mice[].
Methuenine might be effective in the control of cardiac arrhythmias since it mainly decreases the excitability of depolarized arterial fibres in frogs. It also showed a noncompetitive antagonistic activity against histamine and acetylcholine in guinea-pig ileum[].
Reserpiline produces hypotension in dogs and cats, but it exerts a tranquilizing action as well. It is about as potent as reserpine, which is commonly used against high blood pressure and it lacks the side effects of reserpine[].
Normacusine B is sympatholytic and its hypotensive activity is greater than that of reserpine[].
Akuammidine has hypotensive, skeletal-muscle-relaxant and local-anaesthetic activities. Its local anaesthetic activity is about 3 times as potent as cocaine[].
At low doses, vincanidine stimulates spontaneous mobility in mice, but at high doses it causes muscular paralysis. It has an emetic effect in dogs. It has significant antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus spp., Micrococcus spp. And Escherichia coli[].
Stemmadenine increases or decreases blood pressure in vitro and in vivo, depending on the conditions of the experiment[].
Tabersonine has about a quarter of the hypotensive activity of reserpine, and a spasmolytic effect on the smooth muscle of the intestine[].
Apparicine also showed strong activity against type III poliovirus, as well as significant cytotoxicity against P-388 lymphocytic leukaemia cell cultures. Apparicine showed opioid activity in opiate receptor studies[].
Vobasine exhibited little activity in general pharmacological screening tests[].

Other Uses

The bark was formerly used to make string for cloth[].

The leaves and fruits are used to curdle the latex of rubber plants[].

In Mayotte, branched twigs were formerly used as an oil-lamp support[].
The wood is used for fuel[].

Propagation

Seed -

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