''Paullinia pinnata'' is a flowering plant species in the genus of ''

Paullinia ''Paullinia'' is a genus of flowering shrubs, small trees and lianas in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae and typical of tribe Paullinieae. It is native to tropical South America, Central America and the Caribbean. The genus is named after t ...

'' found in South America and Africa. The long flexible stems of ''P. pinnata'' are used to poison fish in shallow pools, as described by the English naturalist

Henry Walter Bates Henry Walter Bates (8 February 1825 – 16 February 1892) was an English natural history, naturalist and explorer who gave the first scientific account of mimicry in animals. He was most famous for his expedition to the Tropical rainforest ...

in his book ''

The Naturalist on the River Amazons ''The Naturalist on the River Amazons'', subtitled ''A Record of the Adventures, Habits of Animals, Sketches of Brazilian and Indian Life, and Aspects of Nature under the Equator, during Eleven Years of Travel'', is an 1863 book by the British ...

''.

Chemistry

The plant contains the ceramide paullinomide A, β-

amyrin The amyrins are three closely related natural chemical compounds of the triterpene class. They are designated α-amyrin (ursane skeleton), β-amyrin (oleanane skeleton), and δ-amyrin. Each is a pentacyclic triterpenol with the chemical formula ...

, steroids, the coumarinolignoid 2-(4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-3-hydroxymethyl-2,3-dihydro-1,4,5-trioxaphenanthren-6-one, 5α-poriferastane-3ß,6α-diol and l-

quebrachitol Quebrachitol is a naturally occurring optically active cyclitol, a cyclic polyol. It can be found in '' Allophylus edulis'' and in the serum left after the coagulation of the ''Hevea brasiliensis'' latex in the operation of rubber tapping. It is a ...

. It also contains the triterpenoids lupeyl steryl ether, 3-oxo-11α-hydroxyl-20(29)lupen and the

lupeol Lupeol is a pharmacologically active pentacyclic triterpenoid. It has several potential medicinal properties, like anticancer and anti-inflammatory activity. Natural occurrences Lupeol is found in a variety of plants, including mango, '' Acaci ...

-3-isovanniloyl ester paullinoyl (3-O-isovanilloyl-3R,5R,8R,9R,10R,13R,14S,17S,18R,19R-lup-20(29)-en), and the flavone glycosides

diosmetin Diosmetin, also known as 5,7,3′-trihydroxy-4′-methoxyflavone, is an ''O''-methylated flavone, a chemical compound that can be found in the Caucasian vetch. It has been found to act as a weak TrkB receptor agonist. Glycosides Diosmetin is th ...

-7-O-(2‘ ‘-O-β-d-apiofuranosyl-6‘ ‘-acetyl-β-d-glucopyranoside) and

tricetin Tricetin is a flavone, a type of flavonoid. It is a rare aglycone found in the pollen of members of the Myrtaceae, subfamily Leptospermoideae, such as ''Eucalyptus globulus''. This compound shows anticancer effects on human breast adenocarcinoma MC ...

-4‘-O-methyl-7-O-(2‘ ‘-O-β-d-apiofuranosyl-6‘ ‘-acetyl-β-d-glucopyranoside).Two New Flavone Glycosides from Paullinia pinnata. Ehab A. Abourashed, Ngeh J. Toyang, John Choinski Jr. and Ikhlas A. Khan, J. Nat. Prod., 1999, volume 62, issue 8, pages 1179–1181,

Ecology

A number of lepidopteran larvae ('' Morpho polyphemus'', '' Fresna nyassae'', '' Neptis trigonophora'', '' Brenthia elongata'', ''

Charaxes lycurgus ''Charaxes lycurgus'', the Laodice untailed charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Ce ...

'', ''

Charaxes zelica ''Charaxes zelica'', the zelica untailed charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of ...

'', '' Euphaedra medon'', '' Euphaedra harpalyce'', '' Neptis clarei'', '' Neptis nysiades'', '' Neptis rogersi'', '' Neptis troundi'') feed on ''P. pinnata''.

References

External links

* pinnata Flora of Burkina Faso Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Sapindales-stub