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Triosteum
Also called Horse Gentians
Triosteum, commonly known in American English as horse-gentian or, less commonly, feverwort, and, in Standard Chinese as 莛子藨属 (ting zi biao shu), is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Caprifoliaceae. A genus of six species in total, it has three species native to North America, and three more in eastern Asia.
Certain species in the genus are sometimes cultivated for their colorful fruits, although the plants have been characterised as 'somewhat weedy perennials' and their flowers are, in general smaller and less showy than those of the related genus Lonicera, the honeysuckles.
Five monoterpene indole alkaloids (vincosamide-6′-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (1), vincosamide (2), strictosamide (3), strictosidine (4), and 5(S)-5-carboxystrictosidine (5)), two monoterpene diglycosides ( see Glycoside ) (urceolide (6) and 4(S)-4-hydroxyurceolide (7)) and 10 iridoids, ( triohimas A–C, naucledal, secologanin dimethyl acetal, grandifloroside, sweroside, loganin, vogeloside and (E)-aldosecologanin ) have recently been isolated from the roots of Triosteum pinnatifidum Maxim. Most of the iridoids in question were derived from loganin or secologanin with a glucose moiety at C-1 position and these findings indicate a close relationship between the genera Triosteum and Lonicera, and support the viewpoint that the iridoids derived from loganin or secologanin could be considered chemotaxonomic markers for the family Caprifoliaceae.
American species : the dried and roasted fruits have been occasionally used as a substitute for coffee; but they are chiefly valued for their medicinal properties, the roots having been used as an emetic and mild cathartic. The drug is sometimes called Tinker's root, after Dr. Tinker, who first brought it to notice.
Yellowfruit horse-gentian · Orangefruit horse-gentian · Feverwort
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Triosteum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
