Echites umbellatus explained

Echites umbellatus is a flowering climber, belonging to subfamily Apocynoideae of the family Apocynaceae and has the English common name devil's potato.[1] It was first described in 1760 by Dutch botanist, Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin. The species grows in parts of Florida, Tabasco, Yucatán Peninsula, Belize, Honduras, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the Colombian islands in the Western Caribbean.[2]

It is a perennial with white flowers[3] and is toxic.,[4] containing lycopsamine-type pyrrolizidine alkaloids.[5] Disease associated with consumption of PAs is known as pyrrolizidine alkaloidosis and many such alkaloids exhibit hepatotoxicity i.e. can cause severe liver damage,[6] [7] including hepatic veno-occlusive disease and liver cancer[8] They are also tumorigenic.[9]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Echites umbellatus - Species Details. Atlas of Florida Plants.
  2. Web site: Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve - Plant Listings - Echites umbellata. 2019-10-20. 2019-10-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20191020120033/http://www.levypreserve.org/Plant-Listings/Echites-umbellata. dead.
  3. Web site: Plants Profile for Echites umbellatus (devil's potato). plants.usda.gov.
  4. Web site: The Spooky World of Plants . 2019-10-20 . 2019-10-20 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191020120303/https://www.theledger.com/article/LK/20051028/News/608149968/LL/ . dead .
  5. Burzynski, Elizabeth A., Minbiole, Kevin P.C. and Livshultz, Tatyana, "New sources of lycopsamine-type pyrrolizidine alkaloids and their distribution in Apocynaceae"March 2015 Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 59:331-339
  6. Web site: United States Food and Drug Administration. Foodborne Pathogenic Microorganisms and Natural Toxins Handbook: Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids . Bad Bug Book. 2009-07-11 .
  7. Schoental . R. . Liver lesions in young rats suckled by mothers treated with the pyrrolizidine (Senecio) alkaloids, lasiocarpine and retrorsine . The Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology . 77 . 2 . 485–495 . April 1959 . 13642195 . Kelly . JS . 10.1002/path.1700770220.
  8. Schoental . R . 1968 . Toxicology and Carcinogenic Action of Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids . . 28 . 11 . 2237–2246 . 4302035 .
  9. Fu . P.P. . Yang . Y.C. . Xia . Q. . Chou . M.C. . Cui . Y.Y. . Lin . G. . 2002 . Pyrrolizidine alkaloids-tumorigenic components in Chinese herbal medicines and dietary supplements .

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