Family

Ranunculaceae

Genus

Coptis

Common Name

San Jiao Ye Huang Lián

Plant Figure

Description

Coptis deltoidea, a medicinal plant belonging to the family Ranunculaceae, has been used for preventing and treating human diseases for centuries in China. Termed Yalian, its dried rhizome is one of the sources of the traditional Chinese medicine Huanglian, which is a widely used medicinal material with definitive pharmacological roles in anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-diabetic, and neuroprotection. To date, phytochemical analysis has illustrated that the major bioactive constituents of C. deltoidea are benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BIAs), such as berberine, palmatine, jatrorrhizine, coptisine, columbamine, epiberberine, and magnoforine.