Horsfieldia superba
Encyclopedia
Horsfieldia superba is a species of plant
in the Myristicaceae
family. It is found in Indonesia
, Malaysia, and Singapore
, and is threatened by habitat loss. It is used in traditional herbal medicine and contains an alkaloid
called horsfiline
, which has analgesic
effects, as well as several other compounds including 5-MeO-DMT
and 6-methoxy-2-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-β-carboline.
Plant
Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
in the Myristicaceae
Myristicaceae
Myristicaceae is the botanical name for a family of flowering plants. The family has been recognised by most taxonomists; it is sometimes called the "nutmeg family", after its most famous member, Nutmeg ....
family. It is found in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, Malaysia, and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, and is threatened by habitat loss. It is used in traditional herbal medicine and contains an alkaloid
Alkaloid
Alkaloids are a group of naturally occurring chemical compounds that contain mostly basic nitrogen atoms. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Also some synthetic compounds of similar structure are attributed to alkaloids...
called horsfiline
Horsfiline
Horsfiline is an oxindole alkaloid found in the plant Horsfieldia superba, which is used in traditional herbal medicine. It has analgesic effects and has been the subject of significant research both to produce it synthetically by convenient routes, and to develop analogues and derivatives which...
, which has analgesic
Analgesic
An analgesic is any member of the group of drugs used to relieve pain . The word analgesic derives from Greek an- and algos ....
effects, as well as several other compounds including 5-MeO-DMT
5-MeO-DMT
5-MeO-DMT is a powerful psychedelic tryptamine. It is found in a wide variety of plant and psychoactive toad species and, like its close relatives DMT and bufotenin , it has been used as an entheogen by South American shamans for thousands of years.-Chemistry:5-MeO-DMT was first synthesized in...
and 6-methoxy-2-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-β-carboline.
Source
- Chua, L.S.L. 1998. Horsfieldia superba. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 22 August 2007.