by dinesh_valkeRauvolfia -- honours Leonhard Rauwolf, German physician, botanist and travellerserpentina -- from Latin serpentine, related to snakecommonly known as: Indian snakeroot, java devil pepper, ichneumon-plant, insanity herb, rauvolfia root, rauwolfia, serpentine wood, snakeroot, snakewood • Assamese: arachoritita • Bengali: চন্দ্র chandra • Gujarati: સર્પગંધા sarpagandha • Hindi: chandrabhaga, छोटा चांद chota-chand, नाकुली nakuli, सर्पगंधा sarpagandha • Kannada: ಸರ್ಪಗನ್ಧ sarpangandha, ಸರ್ಪಗನ್ಧೀ sarpagandhi, ಶಿವನಾಭಿಬಳ್ಳಿ shivanabhiballi, sutranavi, ಪತಾಳಗನ್ಧೀ patalagandhi • Malayalam: അമല്പൊരി amalpori, chuvannavilpori, സര്പ്പഗന്ധി sarppagandhi, suvapavalporiyam • Marathi: harkaya, harki, नाकुली nakuli • Oriya: patalagarar, sanochado • Sanskrit: चन्द्रिका chandrika, नाकुली nakuli, पातालगरुड patalgaruda, सर्पगंधा sarpagandha • Tamil: chevanamalpodi • Telugu: patalaguni, patalagaruda, sarpagandha • Urdu: چاند چهوٿا chota chand, ناکلي nakuli... concoction of the root is hypnotic, sedative and reduces blood pressure; it is also employed in labours to increase uterine contraction; it is an excellent remedy for snake-bites.