Jaborandi

April 27th, 2008

Botanical Name: Pilocarpus Jaborandi (HOLMES.)
Family: Rutaceae
Genus: Pilocarpus
Species: jaborandi, microphyllus, pennatifolius
Synonyms: Pilocarpus cearensis, P. officinalis,Arruda do Mato. Arruda brava. Jamguarandi. Juarandi.
Common Names: Jaborandi, indian hemp, jaborandi-do-norte, catai-guacu, ibiratai, pimenta-de-cachorro, arruda do mato, arruda brava, jamguarandi, juarandi
Part Used: Dried leaflets, roots
Habitat: Brazil.

Description:
The names of Jaborandi, Iaborandi, and Jamborandi are applied to sundry pungent plants of the Rutaceae and Piperaceae orders, and especially to Piper Jaborandi.

Jaborandi refers to a three to seven meter high shrubby tree with smooth grey bark, large leathery leaves and thick, small, reddish-purple flowers. The leaves contain an essential oil which gives off an aromatic balsam smell when they are crushed. Jaborandi is native to South and Central America and to the West Indies. Several Pilocarpus species are called jaborandi and used interchangeably in commerce and herbal medicine, including the main Brazilian species of commerce: P. jaborandi, and P. microphyllus, and the Paraguay species P. pennatifolius. All three tree species are very similar in appearance, chemical constituents and traditional herbal medicine uses. The word jaborandi comes from the Tupi Indians and it means â€œwhat causes slobberingâ€ describing its ancient use in their rainforest herbal pharmacopeia.

The bark is smooth and greyish; the flowers are thick, small, and reddish-purple in colour, springing from rather thick, separate stalks about 1/4 inch long. The leaves are large, compound, pinnate with an odd terminal leaflet, with two to four pairs of leaflets.

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They are chiefly exported from Ceara and Pernambuco, and only the leaflets are officinal, though they arrive mixed with petioles and small fruits. The colour is brownish-green, the margin entire, with a notch cut out at the blunt tip of the leaf, which except in the case of the terminal leaflet, is unequal at the base. They are hairless, leathery, with large oil-glands, from 2 1/2 to 4 inches long, and when crushed have a slightly aromatic odour. The taste is bitter and aromatic, becoming pungent. The powder is dark green or greenish brown.

Constituents: A volatile oil, containing dipentene and other hydrocarbons, tannic acid, a peculiar volatile acid, and potassium chloride. The principal constituents are the three alkaloids, Pilocarpine (not found in all species), Isopilocarpine and Pilocarpidine.

Pilocarpine, only in the proportion of 0.5 per cent, is found as a soft, viscous mass yielding crystalline salts, freely soluble in alcohol, ether, and chloroform, and only slightly soluble in water. The nitrate should melt at 1.78Ã¸ C. It is a white, crystalline powder, soluble in 95 per cent alcohol, and giving a yellowish solution with strong sulphuric acid.

Various hypodermic solutions are prepared from it.

Hydrochlorate of Pilocarpine is official in the United States, and in some European Pharmacopoeias.

Medicinal Action and Uses:

HERBAL PROPERTIES AND ACTIONS
Main Actions	Other Actions	Standard Dosage
reduces glacoma	reduces inflammation	Leaves
promotes perspiration	increases milk flow	Not recommended
increases saliva	Â	Â
increases urination	Â	Â
increases heart rate

Main Preparation Method: decoction
Main Actions (in order):
diaphoretic (promotes sweating), sialagogue (increases saliva), anti-glaucomic, diuretic, febrifuge (reduces fever)

Main Uses:
1.for glaucoma
2.for detoxification through copious sweating
3.for dry mouth disorders
4.for hair loss (applied topically)
5.for colds, flu, and pneumonia

Properties/Actions Documented by Research:
diaphoretic (promotes sweating), digestive stimulant, diuretic, sialagogue (increases saliva)

Other Properties/Actions Documented by Traditional Use:
anti-inflammatory, anticonvulsant, cardiac depressant, hypotensive (lowers blood pressure), lactagogue (promotes milk flow), spasmogenic (induces spasms)
The crude drug is rarely used, its virtues being due to the alkaloid, Pilocarpine. It is antagonistic to atropine, stimulating the nerve-endings paralysed by that drug, and contracting the pupil of the eye. Its principal use is as a powerful and rapid diaphoretic, the quantity of sweat brought out by a single dose being as much as 9 to 15 OZ. It induces also free salivation and excites most gland secretions, some regarding it as a galactagogue.

Jaborine, of which there is a small quantity in the leaves, resembles atropine, and is antagonistic to pilocarpine, so that an impure pilocarpine may vary largely in effect.

Jaborandi may irritate the stomach and cause vomiting and nausea, as may pilocarpine, even when given as a subcutaneous injection, but these symptoms yield to morphine.

It is useful in psoriasis, prurigo, deafness depending on syphilitic disease of the labyrinth, baldness, chronic catarrh, catarrhal jaundice, tonsillitis, and particularly dropsy. Probably it is most popularly known in preparations for the hair. In small doses it quenches thirst in fever or chronic renal diseases.
It is contra-indicated in fatty heart or pleurisy.
Dosages: Of Powdered leaves, 5 to 60 grains. Of Pilocarpine, 1/20 to 1/4 grain. Of Pilocarpine Nitrate, 1/20 to 1/4 grain. Of Fluid extract, B.P., 10 to 30 drops. Of Tincture, B.P., 1/2 to 1 drachm.

Cautions: Use under practitioner supervision only.

Poisons with Antidotes: An overdose may cause flushing, profuse sweating and salivation, nausea, rapid pulse, contracted pupils, diarrhoea, and even fatal pulmonary oedema. The stomach should be emptied and a full dose of atropine given.

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/j/jabora01.html
http://www.rain-tree.com/jaborand.htm