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The Mayapple
| Article
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14649 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
5 / 1988 |
716 Words |
| Author
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Georgia J. Persinos
Georgia J. Persinos is a pharmacognosit interested in the
discovery of medicines from plants and other natural
resources. She is currently writing a book titled From Plants
to Modern Medicine--Methods of Discovery. |
In the spring, when flowers bloom and trees bud, the tendency is to look up at the colorful panorama. But in the woods, under the shade of trees, grows an unobtrusive plant that is attracting a good deal of scientific attention. Measuring only one foot tall, it bears one or two leaves, each up to 12 inches in diameter. It can be found growing north to Quebec, south to Georgia, and west to Texas and Minnesota. The solitary white flower appears in May or June, and the single yellowish fruit ripens in August or September. Amazingly, the immature fruit and green plant are poisonous, but the ripe fruit can be used to make jellies.
In 1753, this native American plant was given the name Podophyllum peltatum by Swedish botanist and physician Carl Linaeus. A member of the family Podophyllaceae, it is commonly known as mayapple, Indian apple, mandrake, wild lemon, and duck's foot.
The unobtrusive mayapple has a rich folklore. The Nepalese use the rhizomes and roots as a cathartic. The Cherokees of the mountains of North Carolina, who called it unikwetugi, which means "it wears a hat," used the root for deafness; as a vermifuge (to expel worms from the intestines); as a purgative (to evacuate the bowels quickly); and as an emetic (to induce vomiting). The Wyandots of Michigan and the Indians of the southern United States also found the roots useful as a cathartic. But the Penobscots of Maine were hundreds of years ahead of today's cancer researchers because they treated cancer using the underground parts of the plant.
By the mid-1880s, the resin podophyllin, prepared from an alcoholic extract of the rhizomes and roots, was so popular as a cathartic, vermifuge, and emetic that it was produced commercially in the United States and exported to Europe. From 1820 until 1942, podophyllin was included in the U.S. Pharmacopeia as an official drug, which meant its preparation and dosage were standardized. For many years, it was a component of Carter's Little Liver Pills.
Research on the rhizomes and roots of Podophyllum was prompted by a 1942 report in which Dr. I.W. Kaplan stated that with a single, topical application of 25 percent podophyllin in mineral oil he had successfully cured venereal warts (Condolymata acuminata) within four to five days. Kaplan's report, coupled with Indian folklore, led the eminent Harvard-trained chemist Jonathan L. Hartwell of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to study podophyllin and its possible application in cancer
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