View source for Coptis

{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}}
{{Automatic taxobox
|image = Coptis occidentalis.jpg
|image_caption = ''Coptis occidentalis'' flowers
|taxon = Coptis
|authority = [[Richard Anthony Salisbury|Salisb.]]
|subdivision_ranks = Species
|subdivision = See text
|type_species =''[[Coptis trifolia]]''
}}
'''''Coptis''''' ('''goldthread''' or '''canker root''') is a genus of between 10 and 15 species of [[flowering plant]]s in the family [[Ranunculaceae]], native to Asia and North America.
==Species==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Image !! Scientific name  !! Common Name !!  Distribution
|-
|[[File:Coptis aspleniifolia.jpg|120px]] ||''[[Coptis aspleniifolia]]'' {{Au|Salisb.}} ||fernleaf goldthread, spleenwort-leaf goldthread|| British Columbia, in Alaska, and along the Cascades into Washington
|-
| ||''[[Coptis chinensis]]'' {{Au|Franch.}} ||Chinese goldthread ||China.
|-
| ||''[[Coptis deltoidea]]'' {{Au|C.Y.Cheng & P.K.Hsiao}} || ||China (W. Sichuan)
|-
| ||''[[Coptis huanjiangensis]]'' {{Au|L.Q.Huang, Q.J.Yuan & Y.H.Wang}} || || China (Guangxi)
|-
|[[File:Coptis japonica var. anemonifolia 6.JPG|120px]] ||''[[Coptis japonica]]'' {{Au|(Thunb.) Makino}} ||Japanese goldthread ||Japan
|-
| ||''[[Coptis kitayamensis]]'' {{Au|Kadota}} || ||Japan (Honshu)
|-
|[[File:Coptis laciniata.jpg|120px]] ||''[[Coptis laciniata]]'' {{Au|A.Gray}} || Oregon goldthread||California, Oregon, Washington State
|-
|[[File:Coptis lutescens 1.jpg|120px]]||''[[Coptis lutescens]]'' {{Au|Tamura}} || ||Japan (C. Honshu)
|-
| ||''[[Coptis minamitaniana]]'' {{Au|Kadota}} || ||Japan (Kyushu)
|-
|[[File:Coptis occidentalis.jpg|120px]] ||''[[Coptis occidentalis]]'' {{Au|(Nutt.) Torr. & A.Gray}} || Idaho goldthread ||Idaho, Montana, Washington
|-
| ||''[[Coptis omeiensis]]'' {{Au|(F.H.Chen) C.Y.Cheng}} || ||China (W. Sichuan, Henan)
|-
|[[File:Coptis quinquefolia 3.JPG|120px]] ||''[[Coptis quinquefolia]]'' {{Au|Miq.}} || ||Taiwan, Japan
|-
| ||''[[Coptis quinquesecta]]'' {{Au|W.T.Wang}} || ||Yunnan, China and northern Vietnam.
|-
|[[File:Coptis ramosa 01.jpg|120px]] ||''[[Coptis ramosa]]'' {{Au|(Makino) Tamura}} || ||Japan
|-
| ||''[[Coptis teeta]]'' {{Au|Wall.}} ||Yunnan goldthread||Arunachal Pradesh to China (NW. Yunnan)
|-
|[[File:Coptis trifolia 1407.JPG|120px]]||''[[Coptis trifolia]]'' {{Au|(L.) Salisb.}} ||threeleaf goldthread, savoyane, canker-root||Eastern Eurasia, Greenland, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Canada, USA
|-
|[[File:Coptis trifoliolata 4.JPG|120px]] ||''[[Coptis trifoliolata]]'' {{Au|(Makino) Makino}} || ||Japan (N. & Central Honshu)
|-
|}
[[Image:Coptis occidentalis2.jpg|left|thumb|''Coptis occidentalis'' fruit]]
==Uses==
''[[Coptis teeta]]'' is used as a medicinal [[herb]] in China and the [[Eastern Himalaya]]n regions of India particularly in Mishmi Hills of Arunachal Pradesh where it is used as a bitter tonic for treating [[malarial fever]]<ref name="Pandit MK 1993">Pandit MK, Babu CR, 1993. The cytology and taxonomy of Coptis teeta Wall. (Ranunculaceae). Botanical Journal of Linnean Society, 111 : 371 —378</ref><ref name="Pandit MK 1998">Pandit MK, Babu CR, 1998. Biology and conservation of Coptis teeta Wall. – an endemic and endangered medicinal herb of Eastern Himalaya. Environmental Conservation, 25 (3) : 262 —272</ref> and [[dyspepsia]].<ref name=Huang1>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1579/0044-7447(2007)36[343:CTASAI]2.0.CO;2 | last1 = Huang | first1 = J. | last2 = Long | first2 = C. | year = 2007 | title = ''Coptis teeta''-based agroforestry system and its conservation potential: A case study from northwest Yunnan | journal = Ambio | volume = 36 | issue = 4| pages = 343–49 | pmid = 17626473 | s2cid = 36420161 }}</ref>  It is also believed to help [[insomnia]] in [[Chinese herbology]].{{citation needed|date=October 2011}}  The roots contain the bitter [[alkaloid]] [[berberine]].<ref>Pandit, 1991. Biology & Conservation of ''Coptis teeta'' Wall. (Ranunculaceae). Ph.D. Thesis, University of Delhi</ref> Studies have shown that the species has become endangered both due to [[overexploitation]] as well as intrinsic [[genetic bottleneck]]s such as high [[cytoplasmic male sterility]] induced by genetic mutations.<ref>Pandit, M. K. & Babu, C. R. (2000) Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 133, 525–533.</ref><ref name="Linnean Society pp. 47">Pandit, M. K.  and Babu, C. R. 2003. “The effects of loss of sex in clonal populations of an endangered perennial Coptis teeta
(Ranunculaceae),” Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, vol. 143, no. 1, pp. 47–54.</ref> As a result of the synaptic mutation and ensuing male sterility the sexual reproduction in the species is significantly depressed.<ref name="Linnean Society pp. 47"/> The dried roots (goldthread) were commercially marketed in Canada until the 1950s or early 60s, to be steeped into a "tea" and swabbed onto areas affected by [[Candidiasis|thrush (candidiasis)]] infection.{{citation needed|date=June 2012}}
==Ecology==
[[Image:Coptis aspleniifolia.jpg|thumb|''Coptis aspleniifolia'' leaves]]The species inhabits warm and cold temperate forests of oak-rhododendron association.<ref name="Pandit MK 1998"/> It is occasionally seen growing under bamboo thickets around [[Mayodia, Arunachal Pradesh|Mayodia]] region of [[Dibang Valley district]] in the [[Mishmi Hills]] of Arunachal Pradesh in India. It flowers during early spring March–April and sets fruit/seed in July–August. The seedlings are rare and are often found germinating on moss laden dead wood on the [[forest floor]] or even on moss laden branches of [[Rhododendron]]. A new subspecies was recognised in ''C. teeta'' by Pandit & Babu and was named as subsp. ''lohitensis'', which is morphologically very different from subsp. ''teeta'' and it is geographically distinct and inhabits broad leaf forests in Delai Valley of Lohit district in Arunachal Pradesh, India.<ref name="Pandit MK 1993"/>
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
==External links==
{{Commons}}
{{Wikispecies}}
*[https://trippers.info/botany/plants/0043 Coptis lutescens]
*[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=107946 Flora of North America: ''Coptis'']
*[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=107946 Flora of China: ''Coptis'']
{{Taxonbar|from=Q135562}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Coptis| ]]
[[Category:Ranunculaceae genera]]
[[Category:Herbs]]
[[Category:Plants used in traditional Chinese medicine]]