Rauvolfia is a genus of evergreen

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...

 tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

s and shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

s in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae

Apocynaceae

The Apocynaceae or dogbane family is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, and lianas.Many species are tall trees found in tropical rainforests, and most are from the tropics and subtropics, but some grow in tropical dry, xeric environments. There are also perennial herbs...

. The genus is named to honor Leonhard Rauwolf

Leonhard Rauwolf

Leonhard Rauwolff was a German physician, botanist, and traveller. His main notability arises from a trip he made through the Levant and Mesopotamia in 1573-75. The motive of the trip was to search for herbal medicine supplies...

. The approximately 85 species in the genus can mainly be found in tropical

Tropics

The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately  N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at  S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...

 regions. Rauvolfia caffra

Rauvolfia caffra

Rauvolfia caffra is a tree in the Apocynaceae family. It is commonly known as the Quinine Tree. These trees are distributed from the Eastern Cape of South Africa to Tropical Africa and are found in low lying forests near rivers and streams and on floodplains.-References:* Pooley, E. . The Complete...

is the South African quinine

Quinine

Quinine is a natural white crystalline alkaloid having antipyretic , antimalarial, analgesic , anti-inflammatory properties and a bitter taste. It is a stereoisomer of quinidine which, unlike quinine, is an anti-arrhythmic...

 tree.
Rauvolfia serpentina, commonly known as or Indian Snakeroot or Sarpagandha, contains a number of bioactive chemicals, including ajmaline

Ajmaline

Ajmaline is a class Ia antiarrhythmic agent. It is often used to bring out typical findings of ST elevations in patients suspected of having Brugada syndrome....

, aricine, corynanthine

Corynanthine

Corynanthine, also known as rauhimbine, is an alkaloid found in the Rauwolfia and Pausinystalia genera of plants. It is one of the two diastereoisomers of yohimbine, the other being rauwolscine...

, deserpidine

Deserpidine

Deserpidine is an antihypertensive drug related to reserpine.-References:...

 lankanescine rauwolscine

Rauwolscine

Rauwolscine, also known as isoyohimbine, α-yohimbine, and corynanthidine, is an alkaloid found in various species within the genera Rauwolfia and Pausinystalia . It is a stereoisomer of yohimbine...

, rescinnamine

Rescinnamine

Rescinnamine is an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor used as an antihypertensive drug.It is an alkaloid obtained from Rauwolfia serpentina and other species of Rauwolfia....

, reserpine

Reserpine

Reserpine is an indole alkaloid antipsychotic and antihypertensive drug that has been used for the control of high blood pressure and for the relief of psychotic symptoms, although because of the development of better drugs for these purposes and because of its numerous side-effects, it is rarely...

, reserpiline, isoreserpine, isoreserpiline, serpentinine, and yohimbine

Yohimbine

Yohimbine is an alkaloid with stimulant and aphrodisiac effects found naturally in Pausinystalia yohimbe . It is also found naturally in Rauwolfia serpentina , Alchornea floribunda , along with several other active alkaloids...

.
Reserpine

Reserpine

Reserpine is an indole alkaloid antipsychotic and antihypertensive drug that has been used for the control of high blood pressure and for the relief of psychotic symptoms, although because of the development of better drugs for these purposes and because of its numerous side-effects, it is rarely...

 is an alkaloid

Alkaloid

Alkaloids are a group of naturally occurring chemical compounds that contain mostly basic nitrogen atoms. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Also some synthetic compounds of similar structure are attributed to alkaloids...

 first isolated from R.