Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about 5 mm (0.20 in) in diameter, dark red, and contains a stone which encloses a single pepper seed. Peppercorns and the ground pepper derived from them may be described simply as pepper, or more precisely as black pepper, green pepper, or white pepper.
Apocynaceae is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison. Members of the family are native to the European, Asian, African, Australian, and American tropics or subtropics, with some temperate members. The former family Asclepiadaceae is considered a subfamily of Apocynaceae and contains 348 genera. A list of Apocynaceae genera may be found here.
Strychnos nux-vomica, the strychnine tree, also known as nux vomica, poison fruit, semen strychnos, and quaker buttons, is a deciduous tree native to India and to southeast Asia. It is a medium-sized tree in the family Loganiaceae that grows in open habitats. Its leaves are ovate and 5–9 centimetres (2–3.5 in) in size. It is known for being the natural source of the extremely poisonous compound strychnine.
Musanga cecropioides, the African corkwood tree or umbrella tree, is found in tropical Africa from Sierra Leone south to Angola and east to Uganda. It is typical in secondary forests.
Rauvolfia is a genus of evergreen trees and shrubs, commonly known as devil peppers, in the family Apocynaceae. The genus is named to honor Leonhard Rauwolf. The genus can mainly be found in tropical regions of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and various oceanic islands.
Rauvolfia serpentina, the Indian snakeroot, devil pepper, serpentine wood, Sarpagandha or Chandrika, is a species of flower in the milkweed family Apocynaceae. It is native to the Indian subcontinent and East Asia.
Phellodendron amurense is a species of tree in the family Rutaceae, commonly called the Amur cork tree. It is a major source of huáng bò, one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine. The Ainu people used this plant, called shikerebe-ni, as a painkiller. It is known as hwangbyeok in Korean and (キハダ) kihada in Japanese.
Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, was a Pakistani organic chemist specialising in natural products, and a professor of chemistry at the University of Karachi.
Ajmaline is an alkaloid that is classified as a 1-A antiarrhythmic agent. It is often used to induce arrhythmic contraction in patients suspected of having Brugada syndrome. Individuals suffering from Brugada syndrome will be more susceptible to the arrhythmogenic effects of the drug, and this can be observed on an electrocardiogram as an ST elevation.
Alstonia scholaris, commonly called blackboard tree, scholar tree, milkwood or devil's tree in English, is an evergreen tropical tree in the dogbane family (Apocynaceae). It is native to southern China, tropical Asia and Australasia, where it is a common ornamental plant. It is a toxic plant, but is used traditionally for myriad diseases and complaints. It is called 'Saptaparna' in India and is the sacred tree of the 2nd Jain tirthankar Ajitnatha.
Funtumia elastica is a medium-sized African rubber tree with glossy leaves, milky sap, and long woody seedpods. The bark is used in the traditional medicine of tropical Africa. It is economically important in West African countries such as Ghana, where it is commonly known as the ofruntum.
Styphnolobium japonicum, the Japanese pagoda tree is a species of deciduous tree in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae.
Heliotropium indicum, commonly known as Indian heliotrope, Indian turnsole is an annual, hirsute plant that is a common weed in waste places and settled areas. It is native to Asia. It is widely used in native medicine in Tamil Nadu, India.
Rauvolfia sandwicensis, the devil's-pepper, also known as hao in the Hawaiian language, is a species of flowering plant in the milkweed family, Apocynaceae, that is endemic to Hawaii. It is a shrub, a small tree reaching 6 m (20 ft) in height, or, rarely, a medium-sized tree up to 12 m (39 ft) tall with a trunk diameter of 0.3 m (0.98 ft). Hao inhabits coastal mesic and mixed mesic forests at elevations of 100–500 m (330–1,640 ft).
Corynanthine, also known as rauhimbine, is an alkaloid found in the Rauvolfia and Corynanthe genera of plants. It is one of the two diastereoisomers of yohimbine, the other being rauwolscine. It is also related to ajmalicine.
Rauvolfia vomitoria, the poison devil's-pepper, is a plant species in the genus Rauvolfia. It is native from Senegal east to Sudan and Tanzania, south to Angola; and naturalized in China, Bangladesh, different ranges of Himalayan and Puerto Rico. The plant contains a number of compounds of interest to the pharmaceutical industry and is widely used in traditional medicine.
Alseroxylon is a norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor that has been investigated in the treatment of hypertension and angina pectoris and as a sedative in psychoses. It was at one time approved for use in the United States, but has since been discontinued.
Rauvolfia verticillata, the common devil pepper, is a plant in the family Apocynaceae. The specific epithet verticillata means 'whorled' and refers to the plant's leaves.
Rauvolfia micrantha, the small-flowered snakeroot, is a plant that is indigenous to southwestern India, southern Thailand, and Vietnam. It has a woody, shrub-like appearance and attractive flowers.
Sichuan pepper, also known as Sichuanese pepper, Szechuan pepper, Chinese prickly ash, Chinese pepper, Mountain pepper, and mala pepper, is a spice commonly used in Sichuan cuisine in China, in Nepal, and in northeast India. Despite its name, Sichuan pepper is not closely related to black pepper or chili peppers. It is made from plants of the genus Zanthoxylum in the family Rutaceae, which includes citrus and rue.
