Jalap Bindweed

October 30th, 2009

Botanical Name: Convolvulus Jalapa (LINN.)
Family: Convolvulacea Bindweed family
Synonym: Ipomea purga
Common Names: Jalap , Jalap Bindweed

Habitat: The Jalap Bindweed is a native of South America and derives its name from Xalapa Mexico, where it grows. The Jalap Bindweed (C. Jalapa, Linn.), but more often called Ipomea Jalapa or purga, is a native of South America and Mexico. It derives its name from Xalapa, in Mexico, where it is very abundant. It is freely grown out of doors, however, in the southern countries of Europe, and plants have been grown here in the garden of the Society of Apothecaries and also in Norfolk and Hampshire.

Description: It is a handsome climbing convolvulaceous plant with crimson flowers and a tuberous root, which is of officinal value. The tubers, varying in size from a walnut to an orange, are dark, umber-brown in colour and much wrinkled. They are imported either whole or sliced.

Uses: All the Convolvulus family have purgative properties in a greater or less degree. Convolvulus Scammonia is used in homoeopathy. A tincture is made from the gum resin. The drugs known as Jalap and Scammony are produced from the Jalap Bindweed and the C. Scammonia.
There are three kinds of Convolvulus or Bindweed in our native flora: the Field, Hedge, and the Sea Convolvulus. We have also many southern species growing in our gardens, chief among which are the handsome Morning Glory (Ipomea purpurea Linn.), C. purpureus, a native of Asia and America, with large purple flowers, and the pretty little annual, C. minor, a native of southern Europe, its cheerful flowers a combination of blue, yellow and white.

Medicinal Action and Uses: Jalap has been known in Europe since the beginning of the 17th century for it’s strong cathartic and purgative action. The drug Jalap is prepared from a resin which abounds in the roots. It has a slight smoky odour and the taste is unpleasant, followed by pungent acridity. It has strong cathartic and purgative action, and is used in constipation, pain and colic in the bowels and general intestinal torpor, being combined, in compound powder, with other laxatives, and with carminatives such as ginger, cloves, etc. It accelerates the action of rhubarb.

Jalap forms a safe purge for children, being given in sugar or jam to disguise the taste, and has been used thus with calomel or wormwood as a vermifuge. It proves an excellent purge in rheumatism.

Preparations-: Powdered root, 3 to 20 grains. Tincture, B.P., 1/2 to 1 drachm. Powdered resin, 2 to 5 grains. Compound powder, B.P., 1 to 2 drachms. Jalapin, 1 to 3 grains.

Other members of this Convolvulus family have economic uses. C. dissectus, an American species abounds in prussic acid, the liquor known as Noyau being prepared from it with the aid of alcohol, and the oil of Rodium, which is so attractive to rats as to cause them to swarm to it without fear, even if held in the hand of a rat-catcher, is the produce of another Convolvulus, known as C. Rhodorhiza.

One of the most important members of the order economically is C. Batatas, the tuberous-rooted Bindweed, or SWEET POTATO, the roots of which abound in starch and sugar and form a nourishing food, very valuable in the tropics, where it is largely cultivated. The roots are somewhat in shape like an oblong and ugly potato, often club-shaped, and are of a reddish colour. When cooked, they are excessively sweet, not unlike liquorice, and not attractive in appearance. They are usually of greater size and weight than ordinary potatoes.

Before the introduction of the Potato into Europe, the Sweet Potato was regularly imported as a wholesome article of diet, and was grown in Spain and Portugal, to which it had been brought from the West Indies. The Potato which Shakespeare mentions twice – in the Merry Wives of Windsor and in Troilus and Cressida – is the Sweet Potato, and not the more familiar tuber of our days.

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/b/binwej40.html

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/b/bindwe38.html

http://www.anniesremedy.com/herb_detail411.php