Description

Gelsemium elegans (National Center for Biotechnology Information Taxonomy ID: 427660) is also known as Gou Wen, Da Cha Yao or Duan Chang Cao in Chinese. This herb is extremely famous for murdered the Yan Emperor of China who was also called Shen Nong in the Chinese mythology “Shen Nong tastes hundreds of grasses”. This species is widely distributed in the Fujian, Guangxi, Hunan and Guizhou provinces of China and in southeastern Asia. It has been used as an herbal medicine for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, neuropathic pain, spasticity, skin ulcers and cancer for many years and the whole plant has been widely added to animal feed for livestock.

Scientific classitication

Family: Gelsemiaceae

Genus: Gelsemium

Common Name

Gou Wen, Duan Chang Cao

Reference

Liu, Y., Tang, Q., Cheng, P., Zhu, M., Zhang, H., Liu, J., ... & Liu, Z. (2020). Whole-genome sequencing and analysis of the Chinese herbal plant Gelsemium elegans. Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B, 10(2), 374-382.