52. Podophyllum emodi, Wall.

The medicinal plant Podophyllum emodi is a member of the Berberidaceae (barberry) family. This page includes its habitat, botanical descption, medicinal uses (eg., Ayurveda), chemical constituents and history of use in modern and ancient India.

Index in Flora of British India (Hooker): 1. 112.

Sanskrit—Laghu Pattra.

Vernacular: Papra, papri, bhavan-bakra, bakra-chimyaka, Nir-bishi, Pilijadi (H.); Papri, ban-kakri; banbakri, Kakra, bankakra, Chimyaka, Chijakri, gul-kakri, wan-wangan (Pb.). Veni-wel (Guj.); Padwel (Mar.).

Habitat:—Interior ranges of the Himalaya, from Sikkim to Hazara; Kashmir. Simla, Jaunsar and Tehri Garhwal, 7,000, ft.

Botanical description:—A scapigerous herb. Stem or scape 6-12 in., erect, stout, herbaceous.

Leaves: 2, vernal, alternate, long-petioled, plaited and deflexed in venation, 6-10 in. diam., orbicular, 3-5-lobed to the middle or base; lobes cuneate, laciniate or acutely serrate.

Peduncle: terminal in bud, then apparently supra-axillary or inserted on the petiole of the upper leaf.

Flowers: white or light rose, 1-1½ in. diam., cup-shaped.

Sepals: very deciduous.

Petals: 6, sometimes 4 (Royle), ovate-oblong.

Stamens: usually six. Anther-cells opening by slits.

Ovary: simple. Stigma large, sessile, peltate.

Berry: 1-12 in., ellipsoid, red, edible. Seeds many, obovoid, imbedded in pulp, on a broad ventral placenta.

In the Indian Forester for October 1915, Mr. R. S. Troup, I. F S., has contributed a note on the cultivation of Podophyllum Emodi. According to him the plant can be cultivated easily from seed or from pieces of rhizome, but owing to the very slow growth of the rhizomes it is by no means certain to what extent the plant can be cultivated with profit. He has summarized the following facts from his experiments

(1) that Podophyllum can be grown successfully either from seed or from sections of rhizomes of any size down to underpin, in length, though perhaps this length should be taken as a minimum;

(2) that in either case transplanting can be carried out without danger, though in the case of planting rhizome cuttings it is preferable to plant direct in the forest and not to transplant from nursery beds;

(3) that the development of rhizomes is extremely slow: in the case of plants raised from rhizome cuttings it may possibly take at least 12 years to produce fair sized marketable rhizomes, while in the case of seedling plants the period is likely to be longer.

Mr. Puran Singh, F.C.S., Chemist at the Forest Research Institute, Dehra Dun, in a note on the Resin-value of Podophylhim Emodi and the best season for collecting it, writes:—

“The rhizome should apparently be collected in May about the time when the plant is in flower and not in the autumn as has been suggested.

The Comparative Value of the Indian and the American Drugs:

“It has been admitted that the Indian plant is richer in resin as well as in Podophyllotoxin than the American. Prom the results of the assay of American Podophyllum given by Dunstan and Henry it is calculated that the percentage of the active principle in the resin of the American plant ranges from 15-29 to 23/74. According to the analysis of a sample of the American drug by Umney, the active principle amounts to 22-9 per cent, of the resin. In a sample of the Indian drug examined by him, in 1892, he found 25 per cent., while in another sample collected after fruiting in 1910, he found 50-3 per cent. The percentage of Podophyllotoxin in the Indian resin varies according to the season of collection from 25 to 50 per cent., and it is safe to assert that an average quality of the Indian plant will contain as a rule twice as much of the active principle as the American.”

Part used:—The root.

Medicinal uses:—“Half a grain of the resin, mixed with a little sugar, produced unmistakable cathartic effects in the course of a few hours. * * As there is such a great resemblance between the Indian and the American species of Podophyllum in their botanical, and technical characters, and as the former yields such a large quantity as 10 to 12 per cent of an active principle, it is desirable that attention be drawn to such a promising and useful medicinal agent.” (Dymock and Hooper in the Ph J. for Jan. 26th, 1889, p. 585.)

Chemistry:— The constituents of P. Emodi are identical with those of P. Peltatum, Crystalline podophyilotoxin C₁₅H₁₄O₆ 2H₂0, when acted on by aqueous alkalis, is converted into the isomeric picropodophyllin. The formula of podophyllic acid is C₁₅H₁₆O₇ . There is also a yellow coloring matter C_l5H₁₀O₇, which is identical with the quercetin.

Podophylio-resin has the formula C₁₂H₁₂O₄.

Podophyllin is as valuable a purgative as the podophyllin obtained from P. peltatum. The action of this resinous mixture is due partly to the podophyilotoxin it contains, and partly to the active podophyllo-resin. Owing to its intensely irritating action internally, even when given in small doses, podophyilotoxin is unsuitable as a medicinal substitute for podophyllin, whilst podophyllo-resin would seem to present no therapeutic advantage as compared with the podophyllin now employed. Picropodophyllin, picropodophyllic acid, and the quercetin are very slightly, if at all, active as purgatives. Since P. Emodi furnishes more podophyllin than P. peltatum, the Indian plant is of greater value as the source of this resin.—J. Ch. S T. 1898, p. 209.