Tynanthus panurensis

Tynanthus panurensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Lamiales
Family:	Bignoniaceae
Genus:	Tynanthus
Species:	T. panurensis
Binomial name
Tynanthus panurensis (Bur.) Sandw.

Tynanthus panurensis, also known as Clavohuasca, clavo huasca, clove vine, white clove, cipó cravo, cipó trindade is a large, woody vine that grows up to 80 m in length. It is native to the Amazon rainforest and other parts of tropical South America. It produces small, white flowers and long, flat, bean-like fruits. The bark and root of this vine has a distinctive, clove-like smell, earning its English common names "clove vine" and "white clove". "Huasca" comes from the Quechua language meaning "vine". The vine, when cross-sectioned, has a distinctive "Maltese cross" design in the wood.

Traditional uses

Clavohuasca is prepared traditionally as a tincture. However, is also taken as a wine in South America, and is taken as a decoction (a tea made from boiling the vine wood). Clavohuasca's main therapeutic actions are aphrodisiac, analgesic, digestive stimulant, febrifuge, and stimulant. It is traditionally from South America and has been used for centuries in Brazilian and Peruvian medicine. The popularity of Clavohuasca is spreading in Europe and North America, being used primarily as an Aphrodisiac and stimulant.^[1]

Clavohuasca is sometimes used by ayahuasceros in combination with the hallucinogenic brew used to connect with the spirit world ayahuasca to settle the stomach. Clavohuasca is not a hallucinogen, but the ayahuasca brew often causes vomiting and sometimes diarrhea. Clavohuasca is sometimes added to the brew or taken simultaneously to help reduce these effects.

Phytochemical analysis

Clavohuasca has yielded one new phenylpropanoid glycoside, eugenol-O-[beta-D-xylopyranosyl-(1→5)-O-beta-D-apiofuranosyl-(1→6)-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside]. It also contains a verbascoside, isoverbascoside, and leucosceptoside, along with the known flavonoid apigenin 8-C-[beta-D-xylopyranosyl-(1→6)-beta-D-glucopyranoside], namely, katchimoside.^[2]

Clinical trials

There have not been any clinical trials as yet on the efficacy of clavohuasca or its most abundant eugenol derivative as a medicine.

References

1. ^ "Clavohuasca.". Indigo Herbs Herbal Information. http://www.indigo-herbs.co.uk/acatalog/Clavohuasca_Herbal_Information.html. 
2. ^ Plaza A, Montoro P, Benavides A, Pizza C, Piacente S (April 2005). "Phenylpropanoid glycosides from Tynanthus panurensis: characterization and LC-MS quantitative analysis". J. Agric. Food Chem. 53 (8): 2853–8. doi:10.1021/jf0479867. PMID 15826030.