Devil's Club

Botanical Name: Oplopanax horridum

Family: Araliaciae

Parts Used: Bark of rhizome and stem

Constituents: Includes daucosterol, syringin, Volatile oil, b-sitosterol, and rhamnose.(1)

Principal Actions: Adaptogen, Anti-diabetic, Rheumatic, Expectorant, Emetic

Pharmacy: Tincture of fresh bark 1:2 95% alcohol. 30-50gtt up to TID. Dried bark, 1:5, 60%alcohol ditto, Decoction - up to 3 fl ozs TID.

Oplopanax is commonly known as Devil's Club undoubtedly due to its formidable appearance. A well armed deciduous shrub - it's spiny stems can grow up to ten or twelve feet high. Feared by hikers, Oplopanax has recently become somewhat of a cause celebre among herbalists and botanists from the Pacific Northwest who have come to regard it as their native "adaptogen". It remains singularly unresearched despite an extensive ethnobotanical history of use as a hgypoglycaemic, rheumatic, and respiratory medicine, as well as being a sacred plant to the coastal tribes of the North West.

BOTANY

Oplopanax is a member of the Ginseng or Aralia family. The genus also contains a single Asiatic species - O. elatus The genus was earlier named Echinopanax, and some authorities have suggested relating it to the Asian genera of Eleutherococcus, Acanthopanax and Kalopanax. The plant is a deciduous shrub, with thick spiny stems rising from a rhizomatous base with large palmately lobed leaves forming a canopy like layer. The green flowers are borne on elongated paniculate racemes which mature into a pyramidal spike of red berries in late Summer. The plant occurs in dense thickets, with many intertwined stems of previous growths forming an impenetrable network below the canopied layer of leaves. The volatile components give off a balsamic odour, strongest from the lower stems and rhizomes. It is the bark of these parts that is used medicinally. Oplopanax occurs at low to middle elevations (1-2000m) in old growth forests, from Alaska southward to Southern Oregon on both sides of the Cascades; East from British Columbia to Alberta, and East from Washington to Idaho and Montana. It is found close by streams and river banks, in damp hollows where there is moderate shade cover.

HARVESTING

The bark of the lower stems and roots are used. Different suggestions have been made as to whether late summer to fall or early spring gathering is optimum. The lower stems become recumbant and lie above ground for some distance, gradually becoming buried - at which point the true roots arise. Again opinions differ as to whether the outer cortex needs to be removed, or whether the stem heartwood or the true roots be included in preparation.

PHARMACOLOGY

There are few published studies on the pharmacology of Oplopanax. Anti-viral activity in vitro against Respiratory Syncytial Virus was confirmed by McCutcheon AR et al.(3) Syringin is also a constituent of Eleutherococcus and may account for some of the adaptogenic qualities of Oplopanax. (1)

ETHNOBOTANY

Oplopanax has been extensively used by the tribes of the North West as a medicinal and sacred plant. Ethnobotanically recorded uses include a wide range of respiratory functions - for colds and flu, coughs, TB, bronchitis, (poultice and decoction) and gastrointestinal functions - as an emetic, laxative, stomachic, digestive aid and anti-ulcer remedy as well as anti- rheumatic, anti arthritic, and some gynaecological uses as as perinatal tonic and anti-galactogogue. More recent uses include as an anti-diabetic by tribes in British Columbia, which latter has attracted much contemporary interest. The plant also has a history of ceremonial usage, ranging from protection against evil spirits, a good luck charm, through to purification and vision quest ritual use. (2)

MEDICINAL USES

Herbalists in the NorthWest have been using Oplopanax therapeutically for early onset Type2 diabetes particularly when associated with metabolic hypertension, central obesity and elevated cholesterol and triglycerides. It is also considered useful for hypoglcemia, and the general assumption is that it is having an action on insulin sensitivity via the hypothalamic-pituitary axis. It is considered by Moore to be a mild adaptogen, especially where stress and blood sugar issues are concurrently emphasised.(4) Excessive doses may lead to emesis.

REFERENCES

(1) Zhang HG, Wu GX, Zhang YM, Chung-Kuo Chung Yao Tsa Chih (China Journal Of Chinese Materia Medica)1993,18(2):104-105

(2) American Indian Ethnobotany Database
http://www.umd.umich.edu/cgi-bin/herb/

(3) McCutcheon AR, et al., J Ethnopharmacol, 1995 1,49:2,101-110.

(4) Moore M, Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West. Red Crane, New Mexico, 1993

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