Question

The medicinal plant is

• A. Cinchona
• B. Papaver
• C. Rauvolfia
• D. All of the above

Answer 1

The correct option is D All of the above

Rauvolfia serpentina contains a number of bioactive chemicals, including yohimbine, reserpine, ajmaline, deserpidine, rescinnamine, serpentinine. Reserpine was used in an attempt to treat high blood pressure and mental disorders including schizophrenia.

The medicinal properties of the Cinchona tree were originally discovered by the Quechua peoples of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, and long cultivated by them as a muscle relaxant to cease shivering due to low temperatures, also some symptoms of the malaria.

Opium (poppy tears) is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). Opium latex contains approximately 12% of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which is processed chemically to produce heroin and other synthetic opioids for medicinal use and for the illegal drug trade. The latex also contains the closely related opiates codeine and thebaine and non-analgesic alkaloids, such as papaverine and noscapine.

Thus, the correct answer is option D.