Coptis

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
File:Coptis aspleniifolia.jpg	Coptis aspleniifolia Template:Au	fernleaf goldthread, spleenwort-leaf goldthread	British Columbia, in Alaska, and along the Cascades into Washington
	Coptis chinensis Template:Au	Chinese goldthread	China.
	Coptis deltoidea Template:Au		China (W. Sichuan)
	Coptis huanjiangensis Template:Au		China (Guangxi)
File:Coptis japonica var. anemonifolia 6.JPG	Coptis japonica Template:Au	Japanese goldthread	Japan
	Coptis kitayamensis Template:Au		Japan (Honshu)
File:Coptis laciniata.jpg	Coptis laciniata Template:Au	Oregon goldthread	California, Oregon, Washington State
File:Coptis lutescens 1.jpg	Coptis lutescens Template:Au		Japan (C. Honshu)
	Coptis minamitaniana Template:Au		Japan (Kyushu)
File:Coptis occidentalis.jpg	Coptis occidentalis Template:Au	Idaho goldthread	Idaho, Montana, Washington
	Coptis omeiensis Template:Au		China (W. Sichuan, Henan)
File:Coptis quinquefolia 3.JPG	Coptis quinquefolia Template:Au		Taiwan, Japan
	Coptis quinquesecta Template:Au		Yunnan, China and northern Vietnam.
File:Coptis ramosa 01.jpg	Coptis ramosa Template:Au		Japan
	Coptis teeta Template:Au	Yunnan goldthread	Arunachal Pradesh to China (NW. Yunnan)
File:Coptis trifolia 1407.JPG	Coptis trifolia Template:Au	threeleaf goldthread, savoyane, canker-root	Eastern Eurasia, Greenland, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Canada, USA
File:Coptis trifoliolata 4.JPG	Coptis trifoliolata Template:Au		Japan (N. & Central Honshu)

File:Coptis occidentalis2.jpg

Coptis occidentalis fruit

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 fever<ref name="Pandit MK 1993">Pandit MK, Babu CR, 1993. The cytology and taxonomy of Coptis teeta Wall. (Ranunculaceae). Botanical Journal of Linnean Society, 111 : 371 —378</ref><ref name="Pandit MK 1998">Pandit 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</ref> and dyspepsia.<ref name=Huang1>Template:Cite journal</ref> It is also believed to help insomnia in Chinese herbology.Template:Citation needed The roots contain the bitter alkaloid berberine.<ref>Pandit, 1991. Biology & Conservation of Coptis teeta Wall. (Ranunculaceae). Ph.D. Thesis, University of Delhi</ref> 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.<ref>Pandit, M. K. & Babu, C. R. (2000) Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 133, 525–533.</ref><ref name="Linnean Society pp. 47">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.</ref> As a result of the synaptic mutation and ensuing male sterility, the sexual reproduction in the species is significantly depressed.<ref name="Linnean Society pp. 47"/> 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.Template:Citation needed

Ecology

File:Coptis aspleniifolia.jpg

Coptis aspleniifolia leaves

The species inhabits warm and cold temperate forests of oak-rhododendron association.<ref name="Pandit MK 1998"/> 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.<ref name="Pandit MK 1993"/>

External links

• Coptis lutescens
• Flora of North America: Coptis
• Flora of China: Coptis