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Rauvolfia serpentina
Apocynaceae FAMILY

Rauvolfia serpentina

Rauvolfia serpentina

Edibility
0/5
Medicinal
4/5

Safety & Hazards

Although we have seen no specific information for this species, most if not all members of this genus contain poisonous alkaloids[PFAF].

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Shrub
Growth—

A plant of the moist to wet, lowland tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 1,000 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 22 - 30°c, but can tolerate 4 - 35°c[1]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 1,500 - 3,500mm, but tolerates 1,100 - 4,500mm[1]. Succeeds in full sun and in light shade[1]. Prefers a fertile, well-drained loamy soil[1]. Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 - 7, tolerating 5 - 7.5[1]. The roots can be harvested from plants that are 2 - 3 years old[1]. Average yield is 2 - 4 tonnes per hectare of air-dried roots per year after the third year[1]. It is best adapted to a well-distributed rainfall. Mentioned as a useful agroforestry species.

Propagation

Seed - Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Rauvolfia+serpentina>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

  1. [1]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
  2. [2]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  3. [3]Trade in Indian Medicinal Plants — D.K.Ved, S.Noorunnisa Begum, & K.Ravi Kumar · Apple Academic Press; Oakville, Canada · 2018 · ISBN 978-1-77188-600-0 ↩︎
  4. [4]Flora of China — Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. · 1994 · http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive resource in 25 volumes. In addition to the botanical information the flora also gives basic information on habitat and some uses. An on-line version is also available.
  5. [5]New Crops FactSheets — Purdue University · http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/default.html ↩︎A website dedicated to giving information on potential new agricultural crops.
  6. [6]Plant Resources of Southeast Asia — http://proseanet.org/ ↩︎Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
  7. [7]Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement). — Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C. · Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. · 1986 · ISBN - ↩︎Very terse details of medicinal uses of plants with a wide range of references and details of research into the plants chemistry. Not for the casual reader.
  8. [8]Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden Vol. 43 — Missouri Botanical Garden · 1956 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎A botanical publication, it includes a treatment of the genus Rauvolfia. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  9. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎