Pau d'Arco

Common names

• Lapacho
• Pau d'Arco
• Taheebo

The evergreen tropical rainforest of South America contains many important plants of herbal and medical potential. Some of the vegetation in these forests includes huge trees which can usually reach upwards of 100 feet in height and can frequently possess trunk circumferences that can easily exceed across for four feet in total trunk diameter. These trees are huge and the leaves of these trees are deciduous; they are often opposite in directional arrangement on the branches, and are usually borne on yellow green stems. These branches bear five elliptic leaves which are of unequal size and some of them can be either lanceolate or ovate shaped in dimension. All the leaves are uniquely arranged in the form of whorls which can be favorably compared to the clutched fingers of someone's hand. The leaves are placed on the stems of a dark green color at the top and a yellowish green coloration at the bottom. Depending on the species, the coloration of various flowers tends to vary and a profusion of coloration exists. These floral colors can range from a stark blue coloration to flowers that are yellow or magenta and even pure purple colors. Depending on the way they are pollinated, some of the flowers also posses yellow throats and may be bell or at times funnel shaped. It has been reported in the public lore that Brazilian based indigenous Indian tribal doctors brew an herbal tea using the inner bark of the Tabebuia avellanedae species or the Tabebuia altissima species, and commonly both these trees are called lapacho colorado and lapacho morado respectively. This brewed herbal tea is reputed to be useful in the treatment of cancer as well as in alleviating the ulcers, and the symptoms of disorders such as diabetes, and long term rheumatism in patients. The people who normally utilize the pau d'arco tree claim it is a powerful tonic and blood builder, and herbal remedies made from the plant are reputed to be very effective against the symptoms of rheumatism, in alleviating cystitis, in alleviating the symptoms of prostatitis, in the treatment of bronchitis, in the treatment of gastritis, to treat various ulcers, and to treat ailments of the liver. These herbal remedies are also used extensively in the treatment of asthma, in the treatment of gonorrhea, to treat skin disorders such as the fungal infection ringworm, and even in the treatment of hernias.  The tree known as the T. avellanedae is a native of much of the warmer areas in South America, but the species known as the T. altissima is believed to grow only high in the Andean Mountains. All such popular claims and public reporting about the supposed curative properties of the herbal product cannot be taken at face value. It is now known that no plant in existence is referred by the scientific name Tabebuia altissima. and that the species of Tabebuia does not grows high in the Andean ranges. It is now known, that some advertising copywriter invented these remote habitats and created fictitious names to make some dubious medication sound more exotic and authentic, while botanical literature does include the name Tabebuia avellanedae for a certain tree species, it is seen that the real and correct botanical designation for the species is the Tabebuia impetiginosa (Mart.). The matter is further complicated by the fact that some of the pau d' arco based herbal teas which are normally marketed in this country are not derived from the Tabebuia species of plants at all, while they are often labeled as containing lapacho colorado or lapacho morado - these are different herbal products. And the herbal product that they contain is usually and actually made from the bark of the Tecoma curialis Solhanha da Gama spp., which is another closely related member of the same plant family as the pau d'arco. The beneficial effects of the herbal remedies differs a little and this difference may not be too large, as the main useful chemical constituents and the real therapeutic activities, if any exist are undoubtedly similar to the real thing because of the closely related nature of the plants. However, such marketing gimmicks will nevertheless leave an unclear trail to the actual botanical sources of the pau d'arco products. Herbalists have different views on the issue, speculated the high chance of all of the herbal bark in question, being in fact sourced from some other Tabebuia species in the lowlands of South America. Commercially however, the species is very important as a source of wood to the huge construction industry, and the wood of the Tabebuia species have been examined in great detail for various applications. Chemical analysis of these woods have revealed that chemically the constituents of the wood such as volatile oils, different resins and bitter principles, among others are therapeutically important. The analyses have also revealed that the wood of these species contains from 2 to 7 percent of a chemical naphthoquinone derivative compound known as lapachol. Bark analyses carried out on the bark of three major Tabebuia species further revealed, that unlike the wood, the compounds such as lapachol and dehydro-alfa-lapachone, and the major naphthoquinone constituents of the wood was absent. Furthermore, the presence of various chemical compound depended to a great extent on the species of the plant, the chemical compounds were either present in traces or were entirely absent from one species to the other. What was detected during the test, were traces of three chemical lapachol compound derivatives. The observations of the physiological properties of these derivative compounds suggest that they posses very similar effects comparable to the lapachol compound. The chemical compound known as lapachol does have some inherent anticancer properties. This ability was observed in the trails conducted in the year 1968, when the compound was demonstrated as having very significant activity against the Walker 256 carcinosarcoma, especially when the compound was administered orally to the test animals - the tumors were artificially induced in the test animals. The activity of this compound against other types of cancer and tumors in animals was demonstrated in further studies conducted using the chemical compound; these include the disorder known as the Yoshida sarcoma and the Murphy-Sturm lymphosarcoma which were also investigated in these other trials. The desirability and effectiveness of the compound in treating human cancer patients is a double edged sword, because as soon as the effective plasma levels are attained in the body, many undesirable and physical side effects which are severe enough for the discontinuation of the medication start developing in the patients. Some of the severe side effects which were observed included moderate to severe nausea in the patients, problems such as vomiting, the development of anemia, and the sudden tendency to bleed in different areas of the body. At the same time, it must be mentioned that all the animal tests results and the results from other laboratory studies show lapachol also possesses other beneficial effects in the body, these include antibiotic potential, an anti-malarial action, and an anti-schistosomal property, however, the scientific studies on humans have not been many, because of the problem of toxicity and side sudden effects. These days, herbal shops in the United States market the pau d'arco as an herbal tea or as an herbal "dietary supplement," and there are no therapeutic claims on the product labels of most of these herbal products. the use of this herb is under question because of the lack of proven results about its apparent effectiveness, due to its potentially sever toxic effects, and because of the relatively high cost involved in its utilization - the herbal remedy is both unwise for arbitrary herbal use and is represent an extravagant product.

Uses

Pau d'arco was traditionally prized by the major South American civilizations, including the Incas, the Callawaya people in Brazil, and many other Native South American peoples - the lapacho was used extensively as a cure-all by all of these cultures. A large variety of disorders and conditions such as serious and superficial wounds, conditions such as fever, disorders such as dysentery, inflammation in the intestinal region, certain types of cancer, and problems such as snakebites and insect bites were treated using herbal remedies prepared from the lapacho. The lapacho contains a lot of chemical ingredients and active principles, for this reason it is not surprising that the beneficial effects of this herb are still taken advantage of extensively in South America as well as by the majority of herbal practitioners around the world in different countries. Its important roles in herbal medicine include its main action as a natural antibiotic herb for the treatment of all types of bacterial and viral infections which affect the human body, especially when such infections affect parts of the body like the nose, the mouth, and the throat. The herbal remedy is also believed to be very helpful in the treatment of chronic conditions such as ME in affected individuals. Fungal infections of all kinds arising in the body are also normally treated using the lapacho, including common ones like the ringworm and different yeast infections, the herbal remedy is also considered especially effectively and useful for the overall treatment of chronic fungal conditions of all kinds, including the condition known as candidiasis in different people. The reduction and relief of inflammatory conditions on the body is another major beneficial effect of the lapacho, and this action is particularly useful in the treatment of inflammation in the stomach and the intestines. A wide range of inflammatory conditions are treated using the herbal lapacho, these include the treatment of disorders such as cystitis, the treatment of inflammation in the cervix, and in the treatment of disorders such as prostatitis. The treatment of cancer, including leukemia is another area of remedial action in which the lapacho is effective. The combination of traditional knowledge about cancer treatment using lapacho and the clinical experience in Brazil with this compound, requires that the lapacho must be more researched for dormant therapeutic values and further effects for the treatment of this devastating disease.

Habitat and cultivation

Pau d'arco is an indigenous South American tree, which grows well and is native to the mountainous terrains around the South American continent. The tree can be found growing at high elevations in the Andean ranges of Peru and Argentina. The pau d'arco is believed to have originated in low areas and is still found in the low-lying areas regions of Paraguay and Brazil. Herbal medication utilizes a large variety of the Tabebuia tree species. As a therapeutic agent, the T. avellanedae species is considered to be the effective and well known; however, the T. impetignosa species is most commonly used in herbal medicine and is widely available as products. Cultivation of the pau d'arco is not normally done in any significant scale, the inner bark is the main part of the tree used in herbal medicine and this is harvested from the wild trees all year around for the production of various herbal remedies.

Constituents

The main active ingredients in this plant are the quinones, of which there are 18, the main ones being naphthoquinones, of which lapachol and a form of lapachone are some of the most important. The bioflavonoid quercetin, lapachenole, carnosol, indoles, coenzyme Q, alkaloids, and steroidal saponins. The bactericidal activity is mainly due to the chemical compound lapachol, and a related derivative compound helps in fighting off fungal and yeast attacks. Malaria is also known to be combated by the compound lapachol, this particular property of the compound would certainly be extremely useful for the treatment of people in the areas where the Tabebuia species grows in the wild-namely large tracts of South America. Many other volatile oils, essential and important resins, along with herbal bitter principles also form major constituents of the pau d'arco.

Side effects and cautions

Side effects with this herbal remedy are not unknown and taking very high doses of the lapachol compound can result in problems such as uncontrolled bleeding from the nose, sudden nausea, and even vomiting may result. For this reason, it is generally considered safer to use remedies made from the whole bark instead of isolated lapachol as a compound - taking the whole bark in the form of some herbal preparation is not known to induce serious side effects even when the doses are high. At the same time, the use of the pau d'arco as an herbal remedy must be avoided by all women who are pregnant or who are nursing.