**Abstract**

*Cryptolepis sanguinolenta* (Cs) is a medicinal plant, indigenous to the West Africa sub-region and has been utilized in Ghana to treat malaria for generations. Besides being used as an antimalarial treatment in Ghana, Cs has been noted as being used in the US to treat Babesia, Lyme disease (*Borreliosis burgdorferi*), Bartonella, among others. The plant contains several indoloquinoline alkaloids, mainly concentrated in its root system, giving the plant its antimicrobial, antihyperglycemic, and anticancer properties. However, the destructive harvesting of the entire plant, along with its root system, is not sustainable over the long term and has already resulted in a substantial decrease in wild populations, threatening its long-term potential and survivability. This book chapter will discuss its uses, conservation strategies and cultivation protocols developed for Cs to ensure a reliable supply of plant material as well as its sustainable utilization.

**Keywords:** cultivation, malaria, medicinal plants, bioactive compounds

### **1. Introduction**

*Cryptolepis sanguinolenta* (Lindl.) Schlecter is a scrambling thin twinning stemmed and flowering shrub belonging to the Apocynaceae family [1]. This all-important medicinal herb is classified into kingdom Plantae, phylum Magnoliophyta, class Equisetopsida, subclass Magnoliidae, order Gentianles, sub-family Periplocaceae, genus Cryptolepis and species sanguinolenta [2]. It is indigenous to West African countries like Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo-Brazzaville, with reports of its existence in the Central African Republic, DR Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Angola [3, 4]. It is mainly found in tropical rainforests, thickets, and mountainous ecologies usually near water, from sea level up to 850 m altitude [3, 5]. However, it does not grow well in areas with abundant shade, mushy and salty swamps of coastal regions.

In Ghana, it is commonly known as 'Nibima' in Twi, 'Kadze' in Ewe, 'Nurubima' among the Guans, 'Gangnamau' in Hausa, Ghanaian quinine and yellow dye root [4, 6]. *C. sanguinolenta* is mainly found growing in mountainous areas such as along the slopes of the Akwapim and Aburi mountains [5, 7]. It is also found in Ghana's

Ashanti Region, where it serves as the main vegetative cover for deserted farmlands around Lake Bosomtwe. The plant also thrives well in the woody savannah region and areas with a good supply of sunlight and water [4].

The cut stem contains an orange-colored sap that becomes red upon drying [8]. It has yellow flowers with tightly twisted petals. This open up to display a five star-shaped flower which develops into pods and matures at 9–10 months after planting (**Figure 1**).

In our eight years of working with *C. sanguinolenta,* insect pollinators have not been observed around its flowers, and this confirms our postulation that it is self-pollinated. Each plant produces an average of 90 boomerang-shaped pods which contains approximately 30 seeds. Its seeds are small (10–12 mm long), reddish-brown in color and oval in shape with a cluster of silky hairs fixed to one end of the seeds [4, 9]. The leaves are opposite, simple and petiolate with an uneven base. Its multi-root system, is found to contain high concentrations of the major alkaloid cryptolepine, and is the part of commercial value used in the preparation of herbal decoctions and tinctures for the treatment of several diseases including malaria.

The World Health Organization (WHO), reported about 241 million malaria cases worldwide with Africa having the highest incidence of about 228 million cases [10]. Sub-Saharan Africa alone, contributed to about 96% of global malaria deaths out of the 600,000 reported death cases [10]. In the quest to eradicate malaria, medicinal plants with potential anti-malaria properties such as *C. sanguinolenta*, a major medicinal plant with a long record of use in the treatment of malaria especially in Ghana [9, 11], should be given the needed scientific recognition. In developed countries such as the USA, this herb is appreciated for its anti-bacterial, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory properties and is been used to treat Babesia, Lyme disease (*Borreliosis burgdorferi*), and Bartonella [12]. Recently it was recognized as a potential treatment for tick-borne diseases in the USA and Europe.

The high demand for this all-important medicinal plant has resulted in its overexploitation from the wild in non-sustainable ways [12]. It is therefore important to

#### **Figure 1.**

*Anthesis to pod formation stages of* C. sanguinolenta *taken in the Sinna garden, Department of Crop Science, University of Ghana. Tightly twisted petals (a), unwound flower petals (b), completely opened five star-shaped flower (c), newly developed pods (d & e), fully formed pod (f).*

develop and adopt domestication and conservation strategies to ensure sustainable production and supply of *C. sanguinolenta* planting material. This chapter discusses active compounds, uses, conservation strategies and the prediction of suitable commercial production areas of *C. sanguinolenta* in Ghana.
