Colombo

Colombo (Jateorhiza palmata): An Encyclopedic Reference

1. Identity and Nomenclature

Colombo — also spelled columbo, columba, or calumba — is the common name applied to the dried root of Jateorhiza palmata (Lamarck) Miers, a member of the family Menispermaceae. The plant's synonyms include Jateorhiza columba; its common names include calumba, calumba root, columba, colombo, kalumba, kalumb, and jateorhiza, and the root is the part used medicinally. The difference in botanical origin given in the U.S. and British Pharmacopoeias is merely one of synonymy, as J. palmata (Lamarck) Miers is merely another name for J. Columba Miers.

Jateorhiza palmata (calumba) is a perennial climbing plant from East Africa; it contains isoquinoline alkaloids, including columbamine, and is used mainly as a bitter tonic, especially in cases of anorexia nervosa. The genus, comprising only two species, is also native to the Madagascar rainforest.

The name "colombo" has a tangled etymological history. At one time, when thought to be a product of Ceylon, it was supposed to have derived its name from Colombo, a city of that island, but a much more probable derivation is from the African name of the root, "kalumb." In European languages the drug has been recorded under numerous names: these include Calumbae Radix (British), Radix Columbo, Colomba (U.S. 1850), Racine de Colombo (French), Radix Colombo / Kolombowurzel (German), Colombo (Italian and Spanish), and Kalumbo (Portuguese).

It is important not to confuse Jateorhiza palmata with two other plants that share the "colombo" name in some traditions. Cissampelos pareira (known as "abutua") is a separate multipurpose medicinal plant whose roots have also been used in Eastern, Southern, and West-Central Africa. Coscinium fenestratum Colebr., known as "false calumba," is used as a substitute for J. palmata in some markets. The present article focuses on the true colombo, Jateorhiza palmata, which is the plant canonically described in the major historical pharmacopoeias under "Calumbae Radix."

2. Botanical Description and Natural Source

Jateorhiza palmata is a tall, dioecious twining perennial vine, often reaching the tops of trees. The annual stems, one or two from each root, have hairs with glandular tips and bear large bright green membranous leaves that are palmate, alternate, and long-petioled. The flowers are insignificant and greenish-white; the female flower is followed by a moon-shaped stone in a drupe.

Jateorhiza palmata occurs in rainforest and fringing forest, up to 1,500 m altitude. The tubers are dug up during dry weather; the tubers are rejected and the succulent roots are cleaned and cut transversely or obliquely into slices, which are dried in the shade. After drying they are about 0.5–1.5 cm thick.

Jateorhiza palmata occurs naturally in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal); it is cultivated in Mozambique and also cultivated and locally naturalized in many tropical countries, including Ghana, Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion, India, and Brazil.

The commercial drug article presents as circular or oval disks attaining a diameter of 9 cm and seldom exceeding 2 mm in thickness, or in longitudinal or oblique slices; externally brown and roughly wrinkled; the cut surface varying from yellowish-brown to grayish-yellow; the transverse slices are distinctly radiate in the outer portion with a dark cambium; the central portion is often depressed; the fracture is short and mealy; the odor is slight; the taste is slightly aromatic and very bitter.

3. Common Forms and Preparations

Historically, colombo root was dispensed in several official pharmacopoeial forms:

• Dried sliced root (Calumbae Radix): The succulent roots are cleaned and cut transversely or obliquely into slices, dried in the shade to about 0.5–1.5 cm thick. After washing and brushing, the slices are graded and marketed as radix calumbae. Compact, uniform, and bright yellow-coloured pieces are preferred. The drug has a short-mealy fracture, slight musty odour, and a very bitter taste.
• Cold-water infusion (Infusum Calumbae): The root contains much starch, which is dissolved by hot water; the infusion is consequently made with cold water to leave the starch behind, as it renders the infusion liable to decompose, especially in hot weather. The official dose of the Infusion of Calumba was 1 to 2 fluidounces.
• Tincture (Tinctura Calumbae): The British Pharmaceutical Codex Tincture of Calumba was prepared from calumba root in No. 20 powder (10 parts) with 60% alcohol (100 parts); the dose was 2 to 4 mils (½ to 1 fluid drachm). The U.S.P. Tincture of Calumba used calumba root in No. 20 powder (20 parts) with sufficient 57% alcohol to produce 100 parts; average dose was 4 mils (1 fluid drachm).
• Fluid extract: Fluidextractum Calumbae (N.F.) was prepared with 67% alcohol; the dose was mv–30 (0.3–2 cc).
• Powdered root: Historical dose of the dried root was 1 to 30 grains.
• Dried root (B.P. dose): The British Pharmacopoeia dose of dried root was ½ to 2 grammes (8 to 30 grains).

In Europe, Jateorhiza palmata is still used in laxative herbal mixtures, and in Italy and the United States the root has been added to herbal bitters. The dried root is traded internationally, though the current extent of the trade is unknown; it is sold through the internet on a small scale.

4. Traditional and Historical Use

4.1 Indigenous African Use

Calumba (Jateorhiza calumba / J. palmata) and abutua (Cissampelos pareira) are multi-purpose medicinal plants whose roots have been used in Eastern, Southern, and West-Central Africa for a considerable time. In the early modern era, the Portuguese adapted the roots, which became commercially traded across the Indian and Atlantic Oceans.

Throughout south-eastern Africa the roots are considered tonic and are taken against dysentery and diarrhoea, whereas in India they are taken as a bitter tonic with antipyretic and anthelmintic properties, and against gastric irritability and vomiting during pregnancy.

4.2 Entry into European and Global Medicine

The narrative of calumba's entry into Western medicine begins with the first mention of calumba as an antidote from the "Indies" by an Italian physician in 1671. In the late seventeenth century and into the eighteenth century, European healers prescribed the root for gastrointestinal diseases, believing the plant to be indigenous to South Asia, particularly Colombo, Ceylon.

By the late eighteenth century, most doctors knew it as the "Mozambique root." However, Europeans denied the plant's southeast African provenance until 1808, and disavowed calumba's origins in Africa while appropriating it into their own pharmacology.

The Portuguese always controlled (from 1508) the plant's trade, exporting it for three centuries via Colombo, Ceylon — also their possession — to veil its origin; it now enters the market from Zanzibar or via Bombay.

By the early nineteenth century, the roots were recognized by both the British and North American pharmacopoeias, but there was confusion and secrecy surrounding their origins and quality. Calumba became official in nearly all pharmacopoeias.

While abutua, originating in the interior of Mozambique, eventually lost out in competition to Cissampelos pareira (obtained from India and South America) and faded into obscurity in global drug markets, calumba collected from the littoral regions of East Africa became a sought-after commercial drug in the global and imperial medicinal trade.

4.3 Eclectic and 19th-Century Western Medical Use

In nineteenth-century Western herbalism and official medicine, colombo was principally employed as a pure bitter stomachic tonic. It was described as "a mild tonic and stomachic" — a very mild and able tonic, easily retained on the stomach when more powerful vegetable bitters were rejected. It gave rise to little arterial excitement and did not cause constipation; as it contained neither tannic nor gallic acids, it could be given in combination with the salts of iron.

The Eclectic Materia Medica characterized it as "a type of the pure, simple bitters which contain practically no oil or tannin, are not astringent, and have no general effect, but act reflexly upon the stomachic and salivary functions by first irritating the mucous membrane and taste buds of the tongue."

In gastric irritation after fevers and other debilitating diseases, and in dyspepsia in which irritation of the stomach was a prominent symptom, few medicines proved more generally useful than calumba, given in the form of infusion.

In some respects calumba resembled hydrastis in its local action, and indirectly, by favouring better digestion, the quality of the blood was improved — hence its value in anaemia during convalescence.

4.4 Ayurvedic and Indian Traditional Use

The plant is indigenous to south-east tropical Africa and imported into India, where it is known in English as Calumba or Colombo and in Ayurveda as Kalambaka. The root is described in the Indian herbal tradition as a bitter tonic without astringency, carminative, gastric tonic, antiflatulent, hypotensive, orexigenic, uterine stimulant, and sedative; it is used in anorexia, poor digestion, hypochlorhydria, amoebic dysentery, and menstrual disorders; the key application endorsed by the British Herbal Pharmacopoeia is as an appetite stimulant.

4.5 Brazilian Folk Medicine

In Brazilian herbal medicine systems (where calumba is commonly cultivated as a medicinal plant), the root is used for poor digestion, low stomach acid, diarrhoea, gas, and loss of appetite.

5. Key Chemical Constituents

Modern phytochemical analysis of Jateorhiza palmata has identified two principal classes of bioactive compounds: diterpenoid furanolactones (bitter principles) and protoberberine isoquinoline alkaloids.

5.1 Diterpenoid Furanolactones

The succulent roots contain the diterpenoid furanolactones columbin, palmarin, and chasmanthin, and several related glycosides including palmatosides A–G. Other non-alkaloidal furanoditerpenes include isocolumbin, jateorin, and isojateorin; some of these occur as glucosides, named palmatosides A to G.

In addition to five already known diterpenoids — columbin, isocolumbin, chasmanthin, palmarin, and isojateorin — a new furanoid diterpene glucoside named palmatoside A was isolated from the dried roots of Jateorhiza palmata Miers (Colombo root).

Columbin is quantitatively the most significant bitter principle. The chief constituents of calumba root include columbamine, palmatine, and jateorhizine — three yellow crystalline alkaloids closely allied to berberine — and the colourless crystalline principle columbin, which yields yellow amorphous columbic acid on treatment with acid or alkali; all of these constituents contribute to the bitter taste of the drug.

5.2 Protoberberine Alkaloids

Calumba root contains 2–3% total alkaloids, chiefly protoberberines — palmatine, jatrorrhizine, and columbamine — as well as furanoditerpenoid lactones which attribute to the very bitter taste of the root. The protoberberine alkaloids specifically identified are palmatine, jatrorrhizine, bisjatrorrhizine, and columbamine.

Bisjatrorrhizine is a quaternary dimeric alkaloid formed by ortho-oxidative coupling of the phenolic group of jatrorrhizine.

5.3 Other Constituents

The roots also contain traces of the sapogenins diosgenin and kryptogenin. They contain about 1% of a greenish essential oil with a fragrance reminiscent of hay (older roots contain very little of it); the essential oil consists mainly of thymol. The roots are also rich in starch. A fluorescent principle is also present, as well as an abundance of starch and some mucilage; tannin is not a normal constituent of the drug.

5.4 Absence of Tannin — A Pharmacologically Significant Feature

Because it contains no tannins, calumba can be safely used in iron preparations for the treatment of anaemia without the fear of precipitation resulting from in vitro interaction. This property distinguished it from other bitter tonics such as gentian, which are astringent. Calumba contains no tannin and can therefore be used with iron salts and alkalies as a substitute for gentian.

6. Mechanisms of Action

6.1 Bitter Reflex / Gastric Stimulation

Calumba acts reflexly upon the stomachic and salivary functions by first irritating the mucous membrane and taste buds of the tongue. Calumba root has long held a place in herbal medicine as a gentle but very effective digestive bitter; bitters work on the principle that a bitter taste in the mouth signals the flow of digestive juices and bile to aid or speed up digestion processes.

Calumba might help to relax the muscles in the intestinal tract and might also increase the amount of acid released in the stomach.

6.2 Central Nervous System and Autonomic Effects of Alkaloids

Early pharmacological work on isolated constituents revealed significant CNS activity. Biberfeld (1909) showed that all the alkaloids of calumba root are depressant to the central nervous system and especially to the respiratory centre; palmatine indeed exceeds morphine in its respiratory toxicity; columbamine and jateorrhizine increase intestinal tonus.

The alkaloid jateorrhizine is sedative and hypotensive. Palmatine is a uterine stimulant; as calumba contains very little volatile oil and no tannins, it is free from astringency which is common with other bitter herbs; the root alkaloids exhibit narcotic properties and side effects similar to morphine.

Despite these findings documented for isolated constituents, historical authorities emphasised that the whole root — at conventional therapeutic doses — was pharmacologically mild. Despite these laboratory findings, it was considered improbable that calumba has any medical virtue aside from that of a mild bitter, free from astringency; it is useful in functional atonic conditions of the digestive organs, especially with other tonics, aromatics, or cathartics.

6.3 Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Columbin

The anti-inflammatory effects of columbin have been studied in vitro, in silico, and in vivo. The effect of columbin on nitric oxide was examined on lipopolysaccharide–interferon-gamma (LPS/IFN)-induced RAW264.7 macrophages, and cyclooxygenase-1 and cyclooxygenase-2 activity was assessed.

7. Scientific Evidence by Area of Use

7.1 Digestive Function, Appetite, and Dyspepsia

Evidence type: Traditional/pharmacopoeial; very limited modern clinical evidence.

Calumba is described in the British Pharmaceutical Codex (1911) as a pure bitter used in atonic dyspepsia and debility of the digestive organs; its preparations possess the advantage of being compatible with salts of iron.

People take calumba for various gastrointestinal conditions, but according to current assessments there is no good scientific evidence to support any use. No modern randomised controlled trials of colombo root in functional dyspepsia or appetite stimulation have been indexed in the peer-reviewed literature to a degree that allows characterisation of study design, populations, and outcomes at the level required for evidence-based assessment.

The key application endorsed by the British Herbal Pharmacopoeia — as an appetite stimulant — is based on traditional use and pharmacopoeial authority rather than controlled human trials. The plant is used in anorexia, poor digestion, hypochlorhydria, and amoebic dysentery; the key application cited by the British Herbal Pharmacopoeia is as an appetite stimulant.

Radix calumbae has lost much of its former importance in medicine, at least in the Western world. It is no longer used in Western herbal medicine as a digestive aid, and is rarely used as an antidiarrhoeal agent (Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, 2007).

7.2 Colon Cancer Chemoprevention (Preclinical Only)

Evidence type: Animal (rat) study; no human clinical data.

A study investigated the modifying effect of dietary administration of the diterpenoid furanolactone columbin, isolated from Calumbae Radix (the root of Jateorhiza columba Miers, Menispermaceae), on azoxymethane (AOM)-induced colonic neoplasms in male F344 rats. Animals were initiated with AOM (three weekly subcutaneous injections of 15 mg/kg body weight) to induce colonic neoplasms.

Dietary feeding of columbin (4, 20, and 100 ppm) during the initiation phase reduced the incidence and multiplicity of colonic adenocarcinoma; the inhibition by feeding of 20 ppm (incidence: 20%, P=0.0242, multiplicity: 0.20±0.40, P<0.02) and 100 ppm (incidence: 10%, P=0.0029, multiplicity: 0.10±0.30, P<0.002) columbin was significant when compared with the AOM-alone group (incidence: 55%, multiplicity: 0.55±0.50).

These results indicate the chemopreventive ability of dietary columbin against chemically induced colon tumorigenesis when fed during the initiation phase, providing a scientific basis for further study of the chemopreventive ability of columbin against human colon cancer.

Also, columbin administration in diet lowered the number of argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions protein per nucleus in non-lesional colonic crypts and the blood polyamine content, which are reflected in cell proliferation activity.

Limitation: This is a single rodent study using isolated columbin, not whole root. No human clinical trials have been conducted. These findings cannot be extrapolated to any clinical recommendation.

7.3 Antimicrobial and Antifungal Activity

Evidence type: In vitro only.

Antifungal activity of the components of radix colombo (calumba, Jatrorrhiza palmata root) was reported in the Pharmazeutische Zeitung (Horn & Steffen, 1968). No human clinical data exist on the antimicrobial effects of whole colombo root.

7.4 Hypotensive and Sedative Effects

Evidence type: Historical pharmacological observations; no modern clinical trials.

The alkaloid jateorrhizine is described as sedative and hypotensive. Palmatine is described as a uterine stimulant. These characterisations derive from early twentieth-century pharmacological experiments on isolated alkaloids. No modern controlled human trials have assessed these effects for colombo root specifically.

8. Body Systems and Health Areas

Based on the available traditional, pharmacopoeial, and experimental literature, colombo root has been associated with the following body systems and areas:

• Gastrointestinal system: Calumba is used as a bitter tonic in atonic dyspepsia and debility of the digestive organs. Root is used for poor digestion, low stomach acid, diarrhoea, gas, and loss of appetite.
• Appetite regulation: It is used mainly as a bitter tonic, especially in cases of anorexia nervosa.
• Haematology (indirect): By favouring better digestion, the quality of the blood is improved — hence its value in anaemia during convalescence.
• Reproductive system: Used in menstrual disorders. Palmatine, one of its alkaloids, is a uterine stimulant.
• Central nervous system (alkaloid pharmacology only): All the alkaloids of calumba root are depressant to the central nervous system and especially to the respiratory centre; palmatine exceeds morphine in its respiratory toxicity at isolated-constituent level.
• Colon (preclinical/experimental): In a test with rats, columbin suppressed the induction of adenocarcinomas in the colon by administration of the carcinogen azoxymethane.
• Antiparasitic / antihelmintic: In India, it is taken with antipyretic and anthelmintic properties, against gastric irritability and vomiting during pregnancy.

9. Dosage Forms and Reported Dosages

The following dosages are those reported in historical pharmacopoeial and materia medica sources. No modern standardised dosing guidelines for colombo root are available from current regulatory or clinical sources.

• Dried root (powder): ½ to 2 grammes (8 to 30 grains) per dose (B.P. dose).
• Cold-water infusion: Infusum Calumbae — dose of 1 to 2 fluidounces.
• Tincture (B.P.): Tinctura Calumbae — dose of 2 to 4 mils (½ to 1 fluid drachm).
• Tincture (U.S.P.): Tinctura Calumbae, U.S.P. — average dose of 4 mils (1 fluid drachm).
• Fluid extract: Fluidextractum Calumbae (N.F.) — dose of mv–30 (0.3–2 cc).
• Specific Medicine Calumba (Eclectic): Dose 5 to 30 minims.

Small doses are preferable to large ones; and on account of the absence of tannin, iron salts may be given with calumba, if so desired.

The infusion requires to be freshly prepared daily, as, in consequence of the large proportion of starch which it contains, it rapidly decomposes.

10. Safety Considerations and Interactions

10.1 General Tolerability

There is insufficient reliable information to know whether calumba is safe when taken by mouth; very large doses may cause vomiting and stomach pain.

10.2 Alkaloid Toxicology — Respiratory and CNS Effects

Pharmacological research has established that all the alkaloids of calumba root are depressant to the central nervous system and especially to the respiratory centre; palmatine exceeds morphine in its respiratory toxicity; columbamine and jateorrhizine increase intestinal tonus. These toxicological observations were made on isolated alkaloids in experimental settings and do not directly reflect the effects of the whole root at traditional therapeutic doses, but they are pharmacologically relevant considerations.

10.3 Uterine Stimulant Activity

Palmatine, one of the principal alkaloids of the root, is a uterine stimulant. This property warrants particular consideration in pregnancy, despite the fact that the root was traditionally used in India against vomiting during pregnancy (in low doses as a bitter tonic).

10.4 Compatibility with Iron Preparations

Because it contains no tannins, calumba can be safely used in iron preparations for the treatment of anaemia without the fear of precipitation resulting from in vitro interaction. This pharmacopoeial observation means that colombo root tincture or infusion can be co-administered with iron salts — a practical advantage over tannin-containing bitters such as gentian.

10.5 Incompatibilities

Historical incompatibles documented for calumba include lime water, corrosive sublimate, and acetate and di-acetate of lead. Calumba contains no tannin, hence it can be used with iron salts and alkalies as a substitute for gentian; its infusion or tincture, however, precipitates with infusion of galls or solution of lead acetate.

10.6 Breastfeeding

Avoid use during breastfeeding. Calumba's known side effects include vomiting and stomach pain.

10.7 Adulteration

Adulteration of the commercial drug is a documented historical concern. Roots of Bryonia alba and Frasera carolinensis (American Columbo) were sometimes used as adulterants, sometimes dyed yellow with turmeric or safflower and made bitter with infusion of calumba or quassia to give a near resemblance. The drug is sometimes adulterated with pieces of sliced rhizome and, in India, with pieces of the stem of Coscinium fenestratum Colebr.

10.8 Overall Evidence Assessment

The overall state of clinical evidence for colombo root must be characterised as very weak. People take calumba for various gastrointestinal conditions, but there is no good scientific evidence to support any use. The most credible pharmacological evidence is preclinical (animal and cell-based), and the plant's standing in Western medicine rests primarily on centuries of traditional and pharmacopoeial use as a pure bitter tonic rather than on modern randomised controlled trials.

References

• Wikipedia — Jateorhiza palmata
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• Raintree Tropical Plant Database — Calumba (Jateorhiza palmata)
• Henriette's Herbal — Calumba (Jateorhiza palmata), Felter's Eclectic Materia Medica, 1922
• Henriette's Herbal — Calumbae Radix, B.P., British Pharmaceutical Codex 1911
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• PubMed — Kohno H et al. (2002). A bitter diterpenoid furanolactone columbin from Calumbae Radix inhibits azoxymethane-induced rat colon carcinogenesis. Cancer Letters 183(2):131–9.
• ScienceDirect — Columbin from Calumbae Radix inhibits AOM-induced rat colon carcinogenesis
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• Academia.edu — Mkaumwa, Calumba, and Miami Columbo: Slavery and Expropriated Pharmacology
• Useful Tropical Plants — Jateorhiza palmata
• Caring Sunshine — Ingredient: Colombo