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Africa Rue

Botanical Name(s): Peganum Harmala
Family Name: Nitrariaceae
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Sapindales
Family: Nitrariaceae
Genus: Peganum
Species: P. harmala
Popular Name(s): Harmal, Syrian Rue, Esphand, Harmel, Isband, Peganum, Steppenraute, Ozallaik, Yuzerlik.
Parts Used: Seeds
Habitat: Native to sub tropical regions of India

Description
Africa rue is a bushy herbaceous perennial shrub that can grow to a height of 1 meter, but is usually around 0.3 meter high. If the soil is dry, the plant roots can reach a depth of 6.1 meters. The leaves are fleshy, spiky-looking, linear and short pointed, while the seeds are small and brown. The capsules have three chambers, measuring about 1 to 1.5 cm in diameter and contain more than 50 seeds. The white flowers bloom in the months of May and June. They are about 2.5 to 3.8 cm in diameter with five petals each. Africa rue is native from the eastern Mediterranean region to India. It has now spread to New Mexico, Arizona, California, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas and Washington.

Plant Chemicals
(+)- Seeds contain harmane (0.16%), harmine (0.44%), harmaline (0.25-0.79%), harmalol (3.90%), tetrahydroharmine, vasicine (0.25%), vasicinone (0.0007%), alkaloids (stem-0.36%, leaves-0.52%, roots-2.5%).

Uses & Benefits of Africa Rue
Caution