Sabadilla

June 16th, 2008

Botanical Name: Veratrum sabadilla
Family: N.O. Liliaceae

Synonyms: Cevadilla. Schoenocaulon officinale. Melanthium sabadilla. Veratrum officinale. Helonias officinalis. Sabadilla officinarum. Asagraea officinalis. Sabadillermer.
Parts Used: Seeds, dried fruit.
Habitat: Southern North America, Guatemala and Venezuela.This plant inhabits Mexico and the West Indian Islands.

Description:Veratrum Sabadilla of Retzius, is a plant 3 or 4 feet high, with a simple, erect, round scape. The leaves are numerous, spreading on the ground, all radical, ovate-oblong, and obtuse, with from 8 to 14 ribs, glaucous underneath. The flowers are blackish-purple, rather nodding, on spreading, simple, or a little branched panicles; pedicels very short, approximated in twos and threes; those of the fertile flowers eventually becoming turned to one side; those of the sterile flowers deciduous, and leaving a scar. Segments of the perianth ovate-lanceolate, and veinless. Ovaries 3, oblong, connate, and obtuse; styles acute, and dilated downward; stigmas simple. Capsules 3, in form resembling those of Larkspur, occupying only one side of the stem, opening at the apex inside. Seeds 3 in each cell, imbricated, curved, blunt on one side, sooty, and acrid.

The name Schcenocaulon indicates the habit of the scape, meaning ‘a rush’ and ‘a stem.’ The name Asagrcea commemorates Professor Asa Gray of Harvard University, the most distinguished of living American botanists. The seeds are black, shining, flat, shrivelled and winged, odourless, with a bitter, acrid, persistent and disagreeable taste, the pale grey, amorphous powder being errhine and violently sternutatory. The seeds were known in Europe as early as 1752, but officially only as the source of veratrine.

Constituents: Sabadilla contains several alkaloids, the most important being Cevadine, yielding cevine on hydrolysis; Veratrine, obtained from the syrupy liquor from which the cevadine has crystallized; and Cevadilline or Sabadillie, obtained after the extraction of the veratrine with ether.]

Two other alkaloids have been isolated: Sabadine, which is less sternutatory than veratrine, and Sabadinine, which is not sternutatory. Sabadilla yields about 0.3 per cent of veratrine. The seeds also contain veratric acid, cevadic acid, fat and resin.

—Sabadilla seeds contain fixed oil (24.6 per cent), resin (10 per cent, of which 8.5 per cent is insoluble in ether), the alkaloid veratrine (Meissner, 1818) (see Veratrina), a peculiar volatile and crystallizable fatty acid called sabadillic or cevadic acid (Pelletier and Caventou, 1819), etc.

The alkaloidal constituents have been frequently investigated. C. R. A. Wright and A. P. Luff (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1878, p. 489, from Lond. Jour. Chem. Soc., Aug., 1878, p. 358) come to the following conclusions: The seeds of Veratrum Sabadilla contain: (1) amorphous veratrine (C37H53NO11), first isolated by Couerbe (1834); upon saponification it splits into veratric acid (dimethylprotocatechuic acid) and a new base, verine (C28H45NO8); (2) crystallizable cevadine (C32H49NO9), the principal alkaloid, first isolated by Merck (1855) and named by him veratrine. It melts at about 205.5° C. (402° F.), and upon saponification splits into the base cevine (C27H43NO8) and methylcrotonic acid (C5H8O2) with which the above cevadic acid is identical. The authors could not obtain the crystallizable, non-sternutatory (3) sabadilline of Couerbe (1834), Hübschmann (1852), and Weigelin (Jahresb. der Pharm., 1871, p. 34), the existence of which, however, is upheld by Masing (ibid.). Wright and Luff found instead a similar body, likewise insoluble, or nearly so, in ether, but amorphous and insoluble in water, and named it cevadilline. The amorphous alkaloid sabatrine of Weigelin (loc. cit.) is believed by the authors to be a mixture. They likewise disbelieve the statements of former authors (Weigelin, E. Schmidt and R. Köppen, Archiv der Pharm., 1877, p. 1) that cevadine (veratrine) occurs in two isomeric modifications, one crystalline, the other amorphous. Bosetti, however (Archiv der Pharm., 1883, pp. 81-106), differentiated commercial veratrine into a crystallizable base, nearly insoluble in water, soluble in alcohol and ether, and identical with cevadine (C32H49NO9), which he names veratrine, and an isomer of the latter, soluble in water, which he calls veratridine (also see Veratrina). E. Merck (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1891, p. 338) isolated from cevadilla seeds two new alkaloids sabadine (C29H51NO8) and sabadinine (C27H43NO8, or C27H45NO8). Both are crystallizable and non-sternutatory. Wright and Luff believe the sabadilla alkaloids to be closely related to the alkaloids of aconite. Sabadilla seeds, when assayed by Keller’s method (Jahresb. der Pharm., 1892, p. 14), yield from 4.25 to 4.35 per cent of total alkaloid, while the yield is usually stated to be only from 1 to 2 per cent.

Medicinal Action and Uses: :Cevadilla seeds have been used as a vermifuge, and to destroy vermin in the hair, but their dangerous drastic and irritating properties have caused them to be dismissed from practice. They are principally used in the manufacture of veratrine; and rarely, but with great caution, in some nervous diseases, tapeworm, etc. The dose is from 5 to 15 grains, for the expulsion of taenia, and other worm. An extract has proved beneficial in painful rheumatic and neuralgic affections. Cevadilla is now used only as a source of veratrine, to which all of its activity and toxic properties are due.

Sabadilla, or cevadilla, is an acrid, drastic emeto-cathartic, in overdoses capable of producing fatal results. Cevine was found to be less poisonous than cevadine, though producing similar symptoms. The powdered seeds have been used as a vermifuge, and to destroy vermin in the hair, being the principal ingredient of the pulvis capucinorum used in Europe. Cevadilla was formerly used internally as an anthelmintic, and in rheumatic and neuralgic affections. The highly poisonous veratria, which is derived from it, has been given in minute doses internally in acute rheumatism and gout, and in some inflammatory diseases, but it must be used with caution. Veratria is useful as an ointment in rheumatism and neuralgia, but is regarded as being less valuable than aconite. The ointment is also employed for the destruction of pedicule. Applied to unbroken skin it produces tingling and numbness, followed by coldness and anaesthesia. Given subcutaneously, it causes violent pain and irritation, in addition to the symptoms following an internal dose. The principal reason against its internal use is its powerful action on the heart, the contractions of the organ becoming fewer and longer until the heart stops in systole.

Dosage: From 5 to 20 grains as a taenicide. Ointment veratrine, B.P.

Poisonous, if any, with Antidotes: Large doses paralyse heart action and respiration, and its use is so dangerous that it is scarcely ever taken internally.

Sabadilla is an insecticide produced by grinding the seeds of the sabadilla plant, Schoenocaulon officinale. For several years sabadilla products were not available in the U.S. However, they are now sold by several mail-order suppliers, and garden centers have begun to carry sabadilla products as well.

Sabadilla is both a contact and stomach poison and has shown greatest promise against several of the “true bugs,” such as squash bug, chinch bug, harlequin bug and stink bugs. It has proven effectiveness against leaf-feeding caterpillars, Mexican bean beetles and thrips. Use of sabadilla on certain vegetables, including squash, cucumbers, melons, beans, turnips, mustard, collards, cabbage, peanuts and potatoes, is permitted by the EPA..

The ground seeds of sabadilla sold for garden use are considered among the least toxic of the various botanicals. However, sabadilla dusts can be highly irritating to the respiratory tract, often provoking a violent sneezing reaction if inhaled. Be sure to wear a dust mask when applying it and, as with all pesticides, follow precautions listed on the product labels. In addition, several of the alkaloids in sabadilla can cause rapid depression of blood pressure in mammals.

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/s/sabadi01.html
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/kings/schoenocaulum.html
http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/sustainable/handbooks/insectcontrol/7.html