African Potato
Hypoxis rooperi
Hypoxis rooperi; Famille : Hypoxidaceae
DESCRIPTION
Medicinal Parts: The medicinal part is the plant's rhizome tuber.
Flower and Fruit: Four to 10 flowers are arranged in racemes on a long peduncle; the pedicles are 1.2 to 2.5 cm long. The 6 tepals are approximately 18 mm long, elongate, free and yellow. There are 6 stamens, and the ovary is inferior, 3-chambered, top-shaped and thickly pubescent. The fruit is a densely pubescent capsule approximately 12 mm long and split in the middle. The seeds are black and warty.
Leaves, Stem and Root: The plant is a herbaceous perennial with 12 to 18 leaves that are 30 to 60 cm long, 2.4 to 4 cm wide, lanceolate, acuminate, firm with a ciliate margin and short hairs underneath. The leaves grow from a globose shoot, which has a diameter of 5 to 8 cm and is crowned with a ring of bristle-like hairs.
Habitat: Hypoxis rooperi is indigenous to South Africa.
Production: Bantu tulip is the fresh or dried rhizome tuber of Hypoxis rooperi. The plant is collected in the wild, cut and then dried in the sun.
Other Names: Bantu Tulip, Sterretjie
ACTIONS AND PHARMACOLOGY
COMPOUNDS
Lignans (3.5 to 4.5%): particularly hypoxoside (norlignan glucoside)
Steroids: sterols, including beta-sitosterol (ca. 0.2%), betasitosterol glucoside
Polysaccharides: starch
EFFECTS
The phytosterols, which have not as yet been more closely identified (beta-sitosterol is possibly the chief active ingredient), are said to have anti-exudative effects in animal experiments. The positive effect of the drug on benign prostate hyperplasia (reduction of the residual urine volume, increase of the uroflow, improvement of subjectively experienced complaints) is explained by the phytosterols' inhibition of local prostaglandin synthase.
INDICATIONS AND USAGE
Unproven Uses: Used internally for micturition complaints resulting from benign prostate hyperplasia, cystitis (South Africa/decoction) and lung disease (Botswana). It is used externally as a vulnerary (Africa). Efficacy for these indications has not yet been proven.
PRECAUTIONS AND ADVERSE REACTIONS
No health hazards are known in conjunction with the proper administration of designated therapeutic dosages.
DOSAGE
Mode of Administration: Whole and cut drug preparations for internal and external use.
How Supplied: Commercially produced capsules.
LITERATURE
Brauer H, Schomann C, Tolerance of beta-sitosterin from Hypoxis rooperi in patients with limited liver function. Results of a controlled double-blind study, Fortschr Med, 96:833-4, 1978 Apr 20.
Hansel R, Keller K, Rimpler H, Schneider G (Ed.), Hagers Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, 5. AufL, Bde 4 – 6 (Drogen), Springer Verlag Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 1992-1994.
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