GELSEMIACEAE

(Jessamine family)

• Medicinal / Folk-medicinal aspects: The early literature describing the uses of crude drugs derived from Gelsemium Juss. species refers to some dermatological applications. •
• Adverse effects: These drugs have largely fallen out of use because of the serious risk of fatal poisoning by the muscle-paralysing alkaloids they contain. •
• Veterinary aspects: •

This is family of 14 species of shrubs and vines in 3 genera (Gelsemium Juss., Mostuea Didr., and Pteleocarpa Oliv.) found in tropical and warm temperate America, Africa, and Asia.^a The plants were formerly classified in the Loganiaceae. The genus Pteleocarpa Oliv. comprises just one species, namely Pteleocarpa lamponga (Miq.) Bakh. ex K.Heyne, a timber tree found in Indomalesia, this previously having being classified in the Boraginaceae (Mabberley 1997), the Ehretiaceae (Willis 1973), the Pteleocarpaceae, and several other families (Rueangsawang & Chantaranothai 2014) before its move to the Gelsemiaceae (see APG IV) in 2014.

The yellow jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens (L.) J.St-Hil.), and to a lesser extent Rankin's or swamp jessamine (Gelsemium rankinii Small), are grown for their ornamental flowers (Hunt 1968/70), which in the former are particularly fragrant.

^a https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:982888-1; accessed August 2025

Gelsemium elegans (Gardner & Champ.) Benth.

[syns Gelsemium sumatranum (Blume) Boerl., Leptopteris sumatrana Blume, Medicia elegans Gardner & Champ.]

Heartbreak Grass

In traditional Chinese medicine, this taxon is the source of the crude drugs known as gou wen gen (钩吻根; otherwise known as Gelsemii Radix), da cha yao (大茶藥; otherwise known as Gelsemii Herba), and da cha yao gen (大茶藥根; otherwise known as Gelsemii Radix seu Radicis Cortex).^a They are recognised as being highly toxic (Zhou et al. 2017). According to Stuart (1911), preparations of the root have been recommended for local application to wounds, perspiring feet and skin eruptions. Perry & Metzger (1980) also referred to the use of this plant in China, stating that it is used only externally on boils, ulcers, ringworm, and leprosy; and is sometimes used to treat neuralgic pain. Stuart (1911) noted also that the Chinese literature seems to have confounded Rhus toxicodendron (fam. Anacardiaceae) with this plant.

A case report in the Chinese literature has described poisoning caused by external application of Gelsemium elegans and realgar wine in the treatment of scabies (Xuan 2005). Realgar wine (雄黃酒; xionghuang wine) is a traditional Chinese alcoholic beverage made by mixing Chinese yellow wine with powdered realgar, an arsenic sulfide (As₄S₄) mineral.

^a https://tcmwiki.com/wiki/radix-gelsemii-elegantis; http://www.tcm360.com/zycd/detail/yaocaitupu-36713.html; https://www.zysj.com.cn/zhongyaocai/dachayaogen/index.html; accessed August 2025

Gelsemium sempervirens (L.) J.St-Hil.

[syns Bignonia sempervirens L., Gelsemium lucidum Poir., Gelsemium nitidum Michx., Lisianthius sempervirens Mill. ex Steud.]

Carolina Yellow Jessamine, Evening Trumpetflower, False Jasmine, Wild Woodbine, Gelber Jasmin, Jasmin Jaune

The roots and rhizome provide the crude drug Gelsemii Radix (Remington et al. 1918). Huang (1993), states that this species provides the Chinese traditional medicine known as gou min or kou min (鉤吻), but then acknowledges, confusingly, that the Chinese gou min is derived from Gelsemium elegans (see above), noting that the alkaloids present in the Chinese species are different from those isolated from Gelsemium sempervirens. Gelsemii Radix was formerly used to treat trigeminal neuralgia and migraine but has fallen out of use because of the serious risk of fatal poisoning by the muscle-paralysing alkaloids it contains (Trease & Evans 1966, Todd 1967). Poisoning has also reportedly occurred following ingestion of honey gathered by bees visiting gelsemium flowers (Felter & Lloyd 1898).

Massey (1941) included Gelsemium sempervirens in a list of plants described as "less troublesome" causes of dermatitis, but did not cite the source of his information. The inclusion of yellow jessamine in lists of irritant plants by Weber (1930), Massey (1941), Schwartz et al. (1957), and others probably originates from White (1887) who noted that many collectors of the root complain of its poisonous effects upon the skin.

Applied locally to the eye, it dilates the pupils and interferes with the action of the muscles of accommodation. The characteristic symptoms of intoxication following oral administration are palpebral relaxation, disturbance of the ocular muscles, the dropping of the lower jaw, together with profound prostration and muscular relaxation. The pupil dilates, there is drooping of the eyelids (ptosis), and double vision (diplopia). By blunting peripheral sensibility it allays the itching of eczema; locally applied (diluted), it is serviceable in prurigo (Felter & Lloyd 1898).

References

• Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2016) An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG IV. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 181(1): 1–20 [doi] [url] [url-2]
• Felter HW, Lloyd JU (1898) King's American Dispensatory, 18th edn; 3rd revn, I & II. Cincinnati: Ohio Valley [WorldCat] [url]
• Huang KC (1993) The Pharmacology of Chinese Herbs. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press [WorldCat]
• Hunt P (Ed.) (1968/70) The Marshall Cavendish Encyclopedia of Gardening. London: Marshall Cavendish [WorldCat]
• Mabberley DJ (1997) The Plant-Book. A portable dictionary of the higher plants, 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [WorldCat]
• Massey AB (1941) Plant poisoning. The Merck Report 50(3): 24–28 [url]
• Perry LM, Metzger J (1980) Medicinal Plants of East and Southeast Asia: Attributed Properties and Uses. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press [WorldCat] [doi] [url] [url-2]
• Remington JP, Wood HC, Sadtler SP, LaWall CH, Kraemer H, Anderson JF (Eds) (1918) The Dispensatory of the United States of America. 20th edn. Philadelphia: JB Lippincott [WorldCat] [url] [url-2]
• Rueangsawang K, Chantaranothai P (2014) Studies on Thai Pteleocarpaceae. Tropical Natural History 14(1): 1–6 [doi] [url] [url-2]
• Schwartz L, Tulipan L, Birmingham DJ (1957) Irritant plants and woods. In: Occupational Diseases of the Skin. 3rd edn, pp. 636-672. London: Henry Kimpton [doi] [WorldCat] [url] [url-2]
• Stuart GA (1911) Chinese Materia Medica. Vegetable Kingdom. Extensively revised from Dr. F. Porter Smith's work. Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press [doi] [WorldCat] [url] [url-2]
• Todd RG (Ed.) (1967) Martindale. The Extra Pharmacopoeia. 25th edn. London: Pharmaceutical Press [WorldCat]
• Trease GE, Evans WC (1966) A Textbook of Pharmacognosy, 9th edn. London: Baillière, Tindall and Cassell [WorldCat]
• Weber LF (1930) A list of cutaneous irritants. Archives of Dermatology and Syphilology 21(5): 761–770 [doi] [url]
• White JC (1887) Dermatitis Venenata: an account of the action of external irritants upon the skin. Boston: Cupples and Hurd [doi] [WorldCat] [url] [url-2]
• Willis JC (1973) A Dictionary of the Flowering Plants and Ferns, 8th edn. (Revised by Airy Shaw HK). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [WorldCat] [url]
• Xuan RL (2005) 断肠草、雄黄酒外敷治疗疥疮致急性中毒 1例 [A case of acute poisoning caused by external application of Gelsemium elegans and realgar wine in the treatment of scabies]. 中国中医急症 ~ Journal of Emergency in Traditional Chinese Medicine 14(5): 397 [doi] [url] [url-2]
• Zhou Z, Wu L, Zhong Y, Fang X, Liu Y, Chen H, Zhang W (2017) Gelsemium elegans poisoning: a case with 8 months of follow-up and review of the literature. Frontiers in Neurology 8: 204 (5 pp.) [doi] [url] [url-2] [pmid]

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