Coptis (goldthread or canker root) is a genus of between 10 and 15 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae, native to Asia and North America.
Species Image Scientific name Common name Distribution Coptis aspleniifolia fernleaf goldthread, spleenwort-leaf goldthread British Columbia, in Alaska, and along the Cascades into Washington Coptis chinensis Chinese goldthread China. Coptis deltoidea China (W. Sichuan) Coptis huanjiangensis China (Guangxi) Coptis japonica Japanese goldthread Japan Coptis kitayamensis Japan (Honshu) Coptis laciniata Oregon goldthreadCalifornia, Oregon, Washington StateCoptis lutescens Japan (C. Honshu) Coptis minamitaniana Japan (Kyushu) Coptis occidentalis Idaho goldthread Idaho, Montana, Washington Coptis omeiensis China (W. Sichuan, Henan) Coptis quinquefolia Taiwan, Japan Coptis quinquesecta Yunnan, China and northern Vietnam. Coptis ramosa Japan Coptis teeta Yunnan goldthreadArunachal Pradesh to China (NW. Yunnan) Coptis trifolia threeleaf goldthread, savoyane, canker-rootEastern Eurasia, Greenland, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Canada, USA Coptis trifoliolata Japan (N. & Central Honshu)
Uses Coptis teeta is used as a medicinal herb in China and the Eastern Himalayan regions of India particularly in Mishmi Hills of Arunachal Pradesh where it is used as a bitter tonic for treating malarial feverPandit MK, Babu CR, 1993. The cytology and taxonomy of Coptis teeta Wall. (Ranunculaceae). Botanical Journal of Linnean Society, 111 : 371 —378Pandit MK, Babu CR, 1998. Biology and conservation of Coptis teeta Wall. – an endemic and endangered medicinal herb of Eastern Himalaya. Environmental Conservation, 25 (3) : 262 —272 and dyspepsia. It is also believed to help insomnia in Chinese herbology. The roots contain the bitter alkaloid berberine.Pandit, 1991. Biology & Conservation of Coptis teeta Wall. (Ranunculaceae). Ph.D. Thesis, University of Delhi Studies have shown that the species has become endangered both due to overexploitation as well as intrinsic genetic bottlenecks such as high cytoplasmic male sterility induced by genetic mutations.Pandit, M. K. & Babu, C. R. (2000) Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 133, 525–533.Pandit, M. K. and Babu, C. R. 2003. “The effects of loss of sex in clonal populations of an endangered perennial Coptis teeta (Ranunculaceae),” Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, vol. 143, no. 1, pp. 47–54. As a result of the synaptic mutation and ensuing male sterility, the sexual reproduction in the species is significantly depressed. The dried roots (goldthread) were commercially marketed in Canada until the 1950s or early 60s, to be steeped into a "tea" and swabbed onto areas affected by thrush (candidiasis) infection.
Ecology The species inhabits warm and cold temperate forests of oak-rhododendron association. It is occasionally seen growing under bamboo thickets around Mayodia region of Dibang Valley district in the Mishmi Hills of Arunachal Pradesh in India. It flowers during early spring March–April and sets fruit/seed in July–August. The seedlings are rare and are often found germinating on moss laden dead wood on the forest floor or even on moss laden branches of Rhododendron. A new subspecies was recognised in C. teeta by Pandit & Babu and was named as subsp. lohitensis, which is morphologically very different from subsp. teeta and it is geographically distinct and inhabits broad leaf forests in Delai Valley of Lohit district in Arunachal Pradesh, India.
References
External links
Coptis lutescens Flora of North America: Coptis Flora of China: Coptis