''Sinopodophyllum'' is an
herbaceous perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...
in the family
Berberidaceae
The Berberidaceae are a family of 18 genera of flowering plants commonly called the barberry family. This family is in the order Ranunculales. The family contains about 700 known species, of which the majority are in ''Berberis''. The species ...
, described as a genus in 1979. It includes only one known species, ''Sinopodophyllum hexandrum'', native to
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
,
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...
, northern
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
Kashmir,
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
, and western
China (
Gansu,
Qinghai
Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...
,
Shaanxi
Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), N ...
,
Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
,
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...
,
Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...
). Common names include Himalayan may apple and Indian may apple.
Description
''Sinopodophyllum hexandrum'' is low to the ground with glossy green, drooping, lobed leaves on its few stiff branches, bearing a pale pink flower and bright red-orange bulbous fruit. The
ornamental appearance of the plant make it a desirable addition to
woodland
A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...
-type gardens. It can be propagated by seed or by dividing the
rhizome. It is very tolerant of cold temperatures, as would be expected of a Himalayan plant, but it does not tolerate dry conditions. Its name in
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
and
Ayurveda
Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population rep ...
is ''bantrapushi'' or ''Giriparpat'' and is locally referred to as 'ban kakdi' in the Valley of Flowers National Park.
Medicinal uses
The root and rhizome of the plant are poisonous, but used traditionally for medicine. They are composed of aryltetralin
lignan
The lignans are a large group of low molecular weight polyphenols found in plants, particularly seeds, whole grains, and vegetables. The name derives from the Latin word for "wood". Lignans are precursors to phytoestrogens. They may play a role ...
s that have anticancer, antifungal, and
immunomodulatory
Immunotherapy or biological therapy is the treatment of disease by activating or suppressing the immune system. Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as ''activation immunotherapies,'' while immunotherap ...
properties.
[Kharkwal, A.C., Kushwaha, R., Prakash, O., Ogra, R.K., Bhattacharya, A., Nagar, P.K. and Ahuja, P.S., (2008). An efficient method of propagation of Podophyllum hexandrum: an endangered medicinal plant of the Western Himalayas under ex situ conditions. ''Journal of natural Medicines'', ''62''(2), pp.211-216.] The rhizome of the plant also contains a resin, known generally and commercially as Indian Podophyllum Resin, which can be processed to extract
podophyllin (podophyllotoxin), a
neurotoxin. Rhizomes contain up to 15% podophyllin. In carefully administered doses, the resin can be applied topically to treat genital warts.
Distribution and habitat
''Sinopodophyllum hexandrum'' grows across the Himalayan region, east to Afghanistan, and north to Southwest China.
It is reasonably abundant in the
Great Himalayan National Park
The Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) is a national park in India, located in Kullu region in the state of Himachal Pradesh. The park was established in 1984 and is spread over an area of 1171 km2; elevations within the park range betwe ...
of
Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...
.
In the fringes of the
Valley of Flowers National Park
Valley of Flowers National Park is an Indian National parks of India, national park which was established in 1982. It is located in Chamoli in the state of Uttarakhand and is known for its meadows of Endemism, endemic alpine flowers and the var ...
, the plant's density is about one individual per square meter according to a study by
C.P. Kala.
Conservation
Harvesting from the wild is becoming unsustainable.
[Chaurasia, O., & Ballabh, B. (2012). Podophyllum L: An endergered and anticancerous medicinal plant–An overview. ''Indian Journal Traditional of Traditional Knowledge'', ''11'', 234–241. http://nopr.niscair.res.in/handle/123456789/13851][''Podophyllum peltatum'' L. (May-apple). Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)(2012). http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/science-and-innovation/science-publications-and-resources/resources/canadian-medicinal-crops/medicinal-crops/podophyllum-peltatum-l-may-apple/?id=1301436227464][Rawal, D. S., Sijapati, J., Rana, N., Rana, P., Giri, A., & Shrestha, S. (2009). Some high value medicinal plants of Khumbum region Nepal, ''10'', 73–82.] Over-exploitation of ''S. hexandrum'' and deforestation have resulted in its current
IUCN endangered listing.
[Ghimire, S. K., Mckey, D., & Aumeeruddy-Thomas, Y. (2006). Himalayan medicinal plant diversity in an ecologically complex high altitude anthropogenic landscape, Dolpo, Nepal. ''Environmental Conservation'', ''33'', 1. doi:10.1017/S0376892906002943] It is also listed under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (
CITES
CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...
) in which collecting and exporting all plant parts of ''S. hexandrum'' except for seed and pollen is illegal.
A study published by Kharkwal et al. (2008) found that propagating ''S. hexandrum'' seeds in an off-site controlled environment allowed seedlings to grow one year faster than in the field.
Effective
ex situ
Svalbard GLOBAL SEED BANK, an ''ex situ'' conservation.
''Ex situ'' conservation literally means, "off-site conservation". It is the process of protecting an endangered species, variety or breed, of plant or animal outside its natural habitat; ...
methods such as this can conserve genetic diversity while providing a substantial volume of transplants to go back out into the wild to combat over-harvesting vulnerability.
File:Podophyllum hexandrum leaf early autumn.jpg, Close-up of single leaf
File:Podophyllum hexandrum ripe fruit early autumn.jpg, The approximately 5 cm long ripe fruit
File:Podophyllum hexandrum 1.JPG, Flowers
File:Podophyllum hexandrum 'Majus', 2020.jpg, Portrait of a flower with leaves underneath
File:Podophyllum hexandrum 'Majus', side view 2020.jpg, Close-up on a flower and its reproductive parts
File:Podophyllum hexandrum 2.JPG, Some fruits of a >20-year-old plant
References
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q9077845, from2=Q15347589
Flora of Asia
Berberidaceae
Monotypic Ranunculales genera
Plants used in Ayurveda
Berberidaceae genera