Arisaema consanguineum
StarArisaema consanguineum
Synonyms: Arisaema erubescens var. consanguineum
Also known as: Tennanshō天南星 テンナンショウ · Kampo; Cheonnamseong天南星 천남성 · Korean; Thiên nam tinh · Vietnamese
Safety at a glance
No rule in our tables for this herb: pregnancy, breastfeeding, incompatible pairs (十八反 / 十九畏), herb–drug, dose ceiling. This is not a safety clearance.
Not graded — No toxicity grade is recorded. Most herbs in the catalogue carry none.
Traditionally used for
- Cough & breathing
Cautions & contraindications
- Pregnancy
- Toxic — professional use only
Western Herbalism Properties
Gallery
Botanical Description
Arisaema consanguineum is a tuberous perennial of the Araceae, native to the Himalaya, China and Southeast Asia, growing in moist montane forest and shaded slopes. It grows each year from a flattened underground corm, sending up a single tall, mottled stalk topped by one large, radiate leaf divided into numerous narrow, drooping leaflets arranged like the spokes of an umbrella, each often ending in a fine thread-like tip. The inflorescence is the characteristic aroid spadix wrapped in a hooded green-and-white striped spathe, with a slender appendage projecting from the hood. Female plants later bear a dense cluster of bright red berries. The whole plant, especially the corm, is rich in irritant calcium oxalate raphides and is acrid and toxic when raw. It is recognised by its solitary radiate leaf and snake-like striped spathe.
Active Constituents
Arisaema consanguineum agglutinin (ACA)
Monocot mannose-binding lectinConcentration: Purified from the tubers by affinity chromatography on asialofetuin-linked silica; subunit molecular weight about 13,000 by SDS-PAGE
The one well-characterised protein of this species. It agglutinates rabbit, rat and sheep erythrocytes but not human ABO erythrocytes, and its haemagglutination is inhibited only by asialofetuin, not by simple sugars, chitin, porcine mucin or fetuin. In human peripheral blood mononuclear cells it is a T-cell-specific mitogen with an optimum of 10-25 micrograms per millilitre and peak thymidine uptake at day 4. In the closely related official species Arisaema erubescens the corresponding 12 kDa lectin is directly pro-inflammatory, so this protein should be read as an irritant principle, not a therapeutic one.
Calcium oxalate raphides
Insoluble mineral crystalsThe reason raw Arisaema tuber cannot be eaten. Electron microscopy of raphides from the official congener Arisaema erubescens shows needles sharp at both ends, grooved along both sides and in part barbed. In a snail model the intact raphides were more toxic than either the calcium oxalate crystals or the lectin alone, because the crystals pierce tissue and the needle groove then delivers the lectin into the wound. This is a mechanical plus protein injury, which is why it is not abolished by heat alone.
Saponins of the tuber
Triterpenoid and steroidal saponinsChinese materia medica describes the tubers of Arisaema species as containing saponins together with an acrid irritant principle whose pungency is lost on treatment with alum, which is the traditional rationale for the alum soak in processing. The saponin content of this particular species has not been separately quantified in the indexed literature.
Genus-level constituent classes of Arisaema
Mixed - flavonoids, alkaloids, polysaccharides, steroids, fatty acids, amino acids and volatile oilsConcentration: Roughly 260 compounds reported across the whole genus as of the 2022 review
Recorded here as genus-level context rather than as analysis of this species. The review that compiled them notes that studies of the active ingredients and germplasm of Arisaema remain insufficient, and almost none of the 260 compounds has been tied specifically to Arisaema consanguineum.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Raw versus processed Arisaema tuber (sheng nan xing versus zhi nan xing)
Raw Arisaema tuber, sheng nan xing, is one of the 28 medicinal toxic substances listed under the State Council Measures for the Administration of Medicinal Toxic Drugs (Order 23, 1988), alongside raw aconite, raw Pinellia and raw croton, so it is legally restricted in China and dispensed only under that regime. The injury is not systemic poisoning but immediate contact injury: barbed calcium oxalate raphides pierce mucosa and inject an irritant lectin, producing burning, swelling of the tongue, lips and throat, salivation and, in severe cases, airway compromise. Handling the fresh tuber also causes skin irritation. Traditional processing - repeated washing, an alum soak, then boiling with ginger and alum - is what makes the drug dispensable, and processed tuber is a different clinical article from raw tuber.
Clinical note: Only ever dispense processed tuber unless you are working under the specific legal framework for raw toxic drugs. Never substitute raw for processed on the assumption that decoction alone detoxifies it. The drug is contraindicated in pregnancy in classical and modern Chinese practice.
Pinellia pedatisecta (hu zhang nan xing) as a substituted source
The classical drug hu zhang, listed as a lower-grade substance in the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing, is now identified as Pinellia pedatisecta, a different genus in the same family. Chinese pharmacognostic accounts state plainly that hu zhang and tian nan xing began as two drugs and were progressively confused because of similar appearance and similar action, and Li Shizhen finally merged them in the Ben Cao Gang Mu. Pinellia pedatisecta is still traded as hu zhang nan xing. The two are not pharmacologically identical, and neither is interchangeable with the tuber of this species.
Clinical note: Ask which binomial a nan xing batch is. If the label says hu zhang or hu zhang nan xing, it is Pinellia pedatisecta, not Arisaema, and should be recorded as such in the patient notes.
Ciclosporin, tacrolimus, azathioprine and corticosteroids
The lectin of this species is a T-cell-specific mitogen for human peripheral blood mononuclear cells at 10-25 micrograms per millilitre, and the lectin of the official congener Arisaema erubescens raises nitric oxide, prostaglandin E2 and TNF-alpha in vivo and drives neutrophil migration. Whether an intact plant lectin survives the gut and reaches the circulation after an oral decoction has not been tested for this drug, so the interaction is a mechanistic possibility rather than an observed one. Absence of an assay is not evidence of absence.
Clinical note: Treat with caution in a transplant recipient or a patient on biologic or steroid immunosuppression, and prefer a herb with a cleaner profile if one will do the same job.
Sedatives, anticonvulsants and other central nervous system depressants
Analgesic and sedative activity is among the pharmacological effects attributed to the genus in the 2022 comprehensive review, and Arisaema drugs are used traditionally for epilepsy and tetanus. No sedation study has been done on this species, no active principle has been identified for that effect, and no interaction study exists.
Clinical note: Mention possible drowsiness when the herb is combined with a sedative or antiepileptic, and reassess if the patient reports new daytime somnolence.
Dosage Calculator
⚖ Dosage Calculator
A weight-based mathematical estimate for Arisaema consanguineum. Not a prescription.
Evidence Tier
4 studies on recordRecorded studies by study design, strongest design at the top. This is a study-design tier only, not a GRADE rating: it does not weigh risk of bias, consistency or precision.
Systematic review / meta-analysis
0
Randomized controlled trial
0
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
0
In vitro / animal
4
2 verified · 2 unverified
Show 4 studies
- New lymphocyte stimulating monocot lectins from family Araceae. II
- Purification of a lectin from Arisaema erubescens (Wall.) Schott and its pro-inflammatory effects
- Main active constituents and mechanism of toxicity of raphides from Arisaema erubescens against Oncomelania hupensis
- Screening of herbal medicines for recovery of acetaminophen-induced nephrotoxicity
Other / unclassified
0
Verified: design read from PubMed for a DOI that resolves to the cited paper Unverified: taken from the study's recorded description
Clinical Studies
New lymphocyte stimulating monocot lectins from family Araceae. II
Human cell work, not a trial. The lectin purified from the tubers of this species was mitogenic for human peripheral blood mononuclear cells by tritiated thymidine uptake in cells from five donors, with an optimum stimulatory concentration of 10-25 micrograms per millilitre. The response was inhibited dose-dependently by asialofetuin and was T-cell specific, peaking at day 4. The companion lectin from Arisaema curvatum needed 50-100 micrograms per millilitre.
Purification of a lectin from Arisaema erubescens (Wall.) Schott and its pro-inflammatory effects
This study used Arisaema erubescens, the official Chinese Pharmacopoeia species, not Arisaema consanguineum, and is included because it is the best account of how an Arisaema tuber lectin injures tissue. The 12 kDa lectin caused rat paw oedema at 100 and 200 micrograms per paw and dose-dependent peritoneal neutrophil migration at 100 to 300 micrograms per millilitre, raising nitric oxide, prostaglandin E2 and TNF-alpha. Depleting resident cells did not reduce the response but increasing peritoneal macrophages enhanced it. The authors frame the lectin explicitly as a toxic component.
Main active constituents and mechanism of toxicity of raphides from Arisaema erubescens against Oncomelania hupensis
A molluscicide study on Arisaema erubescens, again not on this species, but it is the clearest published dissection of raphide toxicity. Intact raphides were more lethal to snails than either the calcium oxalate crystals or the lectin alone, with 48 h and 72 h LC50 values of 70.95 and 44.25 mg/L. Electron micrographs showed grooved, double-pointed, partly barbed needles, and the authors conclude the crystals cause mechanical injury and then deliver the lectin into the wound, collapsing detoxification enzyme activity.
Screening of herbal medicines for recovery of acetaminophen-induced nephrotoxicity
A panel screen of 251 herbal medicines on HEK 293 cells damaged by 20 microM acetaminophen. An extract of this species was one of eight with a recovery rate above 20 percent, but Polygonum aviculare was far the best performer and no follow-up on Arisaema was reported. This is a single-well cell screen and should not be read as evidence of renal protection in a patient.
Historical Texts
Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing (Divine Husbandman's Classic of Materia Medica)
Han dynasty, compiled by about 200Ben Cao Shi Yi (Supplement to Materia Medica), Chen Cangqi
Tang dynasty, 739Ben Cao Gang Mu, Li Shizhen
Ming dynasty, 1596References
- Su F, Sun Y, Zhu W, Bai C, Zhang W, Luo Y, Yang B, Kuang H, Wang Q. A comprehensive review of research progress on the genus Arisaema: Botany, uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicity and pharmacokinetics . Journal of Ethnopharmacology (2022) [DOI]
- Shangary S, Singh J, Kamboj SS, Kamboj KK, Sandhu RS. Purification and properties of four monocot lectins from the family Araceae . Phytochemistry (1995) [DOI]
- Manudev KM, Nampy S. Lectotypification of Arisaema consanguineum Schott (Araceae) . Candollea (2016) [DOI]
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.
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