Stephania

For other uses, see Stephania (disambiguation).

Stephania is a genus of flowering plants in the family Menispermaceae.^[1][2] It is native to eastern and southern Asia and Australia. They are herbaceous perennial vines, growing to around four metres tall, with a large tuber. The leaves are arranged spirally on the stem and are peltate, with the leaf petiole attached near the centre of the leaf. The name Stephania comes from the Greek, "a crown". This refers to the anthers being arranged in a crown-like manner.^[3]

Stephania
Stephania cephalantha
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Ranunculales
Family:	Menispermaceae
Subfamily:	Menispermoideae
Genus:	Stephania Lour.
Synonyms[1]
Byrsa Noronha Clypea Blume Homocnemia Miers Ileocarpus Miers

One species, S. tetrandra, is among the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine, where it is called han fang ji (漢防己, "Chinese fang ji"). Other plants named fang ji are sometimes substituted for it. Other varieties substituted include Cocculus thunbergii, C. trulobus, Aristolochia fangchi, Stephania tetrandria, and Sinomenium acutum. Notable among these is guang fang ji (廣防己, "(GuangDong, GuangXi) fang ji", Aristolochia fangchi. Because of its toxicity, it is used in TCM only with great caution.

Selected species

Species in the genus Stephania include:^[1][4][5]

• Stephania abyssinica (Quart.-Dill. & A.Rich.) Walp.
• Stephania andamanica Diels
• Stephania bancroftii F.M.Bailey
• Stephania brachyandra Diels
• Stephania brevipedunculata C.Y.Wu & D.D.Tao
• Stephania brevipes Craib
• Stephania cambodica Gagnep.
• Stephania capitata (Blume) Spreng.
• Stephania cephalantha Hayata
• Stephania chingtungensis H.S.Lo
• Stephania corymbosa (Blume) Walp.
• Stephania crebra Forman
• Stephania cyanantha Welw. ex Hiern
• Stephania delavayi Diels
• Stephania dentifolia H.S.Lo & M.Yang
• Stephania dicentrinifera H.S.Lo & M.Yang
• Stephania dictyoneura Diels
• Stephania dielsiana Y.C.Wu
• Stephania dinklagei (Engl.) Diels
• Stephania dolichopoda Diels
• Stephania ebracteata S.Y.Zhao & H.S.Lo
• Stephania elegans Hook.f. & Thomson
• Stephania epigaea H.S.Lo
• Stephania excentrica H.S.Lo
• Stephania formanii Kundu & S.Guha
• Stephania glandulifera Miers
• Stephania gracilenta Miers
• Stephania grandiflora Forman
• Stephania hainanensis H.S.Lo & Y.Tsoong
• Stephania herbacea Gagnep.
• Stephania intermedia H.S.Lo
• Stephania japonica (Thunb.) Miers
• Stephania kaweesakii Jenjitt. & Ruchis.
• Stephania kuinanensis H.S.Lo & M.Yang
• Stephania kwangsiensis H.S.Lo
• Stephania lincangensis H.S.Lo & M.Yang
• Stephania longa Lour.
• Stephania longipes H.S.Lo
• Stephania macrantha H.S.Lo & M.Yang
• Stephania mashanica H.S.Lo & B.N.Chang
• Stephania merrillii Diels
• Stephania micrantha H.S.Lo & M.Yang
• Stephania mildbraedii Diels
• Stephania miyiensis S.Y.Zhao & H.S.Lo
• Stephania moluccana Forman
• Stephania montana Diels
• Stephania neoguineensis Kundu & S.Guha
• Stephania novenanthera Heng C.Wang
• Stephania oblata Craib
• Stephania officinarum H.S.Lo & M.Yang
• Stephania papillosa Craib
• Stephania pierrei Diels
• Stephania polygona N.H.Xia & V.T.Chinh
• Stephania psilophylla (C.Presl) Forman
• Stephania renifolia Forman
• Stephania reticulata Forman
• Stephania rotunda Lour.
• Stephania salomonum Diels
• Stephania sinica Diels
• Stephania suberosa Forman
• Stephania subpeltata H.S.Lo
• Stephania succifera H.S.Lo & Y.Tsoong
• Stephania sutchuenensis H.S.Lo
• Stephania tomentella Forman
• Stephania tuberosa Forman
• Stephania venosa (Blume) Spreng.
• Stephania viridiflavens H.S.Lo & M.Yang
• Stephania wightii (Arn. ex Wight) Dunn
• Stephania yunnanensis H.S.Lo
• Stephania zippeliana Miq.

Fossil species

• Stephania palaeosudamericana Herrera et al.

Synonyms

• Stephania erecta Craib (syn. Stephania pierrei Diels)^[6]

Toxicity

Female flowers of Stephania delavayi

There is evidence that a few species of Stephania are toxic.^[7] However, the most commonly available species in the United States, Stephania tetrandra, has not been shown to be toxic. Any confusion regarding the possible toxicity of Stephania tetrandra was entirely due to an inadvertent shipment of Aristolochia fangchi sent in its stead to a Belgian clinic in 1993. The errant batch of Aristolochia was later confirmed via phytochemical analysis.^[8]

Chemistry

Chemical investigation of Stephania rotunda Lour. growing in Vietnam in 2005 led to the isolation and structural elucidation of three new alkaloids, 5-hydroxy-6,7-dimethoxy-3,4-dihydroisoquinolin-1(2H)-one, thaicanine 4-O-beta-D-glucoside, as well as (−)-thaicanine N-oxide (4-hydroxycorynoxidine), along with 23 known alkaloids.^[9]