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Rauvolfia verticillata, the common devil pepper, is a shrub or small tree of wet tropical Asia, growing up to about 5 m tall. It is grown mainly as a garden or landscape shrub in warm, humid climates rather than as a common houseplant.
Rauvolfia verticillata, the common devil pepper, is a plant in the family Apocynaceae. The specific epithet verticillata means 'whorled' and refers to the plant's leaves.
Rauvolfia verticillata is native to China, Taiwan and tropical Asia from India east to the Philippines. It grows in a variety of habitats, including forests and savannas, from sea level to 2,000 m (6,600 ft) altitude.
Rauvolfia verticillata is used in traditional Chinese medicine, including as a treatment for snakebite, malaria, typhus and hypertension. The root may be locally used as a sedative and the leaves are used in the treatment of wounds.
Rauvolfia mannii · Rauvolfia media · Serpentine wood · Be still tree · Devil's-pepper
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Rauvolfia verticillata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
