Rauvolfia serpentina aka Ajmaline

Rauvolfia serpentina is a small shrub. It belongs to the Apocynaceae family and stays green year-round. Common names include Indian snakeroot, snakewood, and Java devil-pepper. Its native range spans the Indian subcontinent and southern China. It also includes western Malesia. Records place it across much of mainland Southeast Asia too. It grows in moist forests and rain forests. It also grows in secondary thickets, where shrubs grow back. Wild plants grow in both sun and shade.

This woody shrub grows upright to about 3.3 feet [1 metre]. It has a rootstock with a yellow tint. It keeps its leaves through the year. The accounts give no detailed leaf or bark traits. They do not state flower colour or fruit shape. Nor do they give a bloom season or mature spread. Records place it in mountain forests and tropical lowlands. Some wild records reach about 6,890 feet [2,100 metres] above sea level.

When grown, it suits warm sites with ample rain spread through the year. The best daytime heat range reported is 22 to 30°C. The cited range it can bear spans 4 to 35°C. Plants For A Future lists USDA hardiness zones 10–12. The shrub grows in full sun or light shade. It prefers rich loam that drains well but holds some moisture. Its preferred soil pH runs from 5.5 to 7. It can cope with a wider range of 5 to 7.5.

Its main known value is as medicine, not food. People in India have used it for over 2,000 years. People gather wild plants and trade the roots. The plant also yields compounds for use in drugs. Sources report root-based remedies to lower blood pressure and aid sleep. They note other folk uses for roots, bark, and leaves. These reports do not prove that home use is safe. Growers can harvest roots when plants reach two to three years old.

The accounts list no known uses as food. Plants For A Future gives it an edibility score of zero. The sources do not assess this species for toxicity to people or pets. They name no pests or diseases. One habitat account calls it a weed in sugarcane fields. This local record does not prove that it is invasive. Beyond its shrub form, the evidence gives no further landscape uses.