Alseroxylon is a purified fat-soluble extract of the root of Rauvolfia serpentina, containing reserpine and other nonadrenolytic amorphous alkaloids.
The extract of the plant has also been used for millennia in India – Alexander the Great administered this plant to cure his general Ptolemy I Soter of a poisoned arrow.
Originally isolated from the plant Rauvolfia serpentina, a medicinal plant widely used in Indian folk medicine, this enzyme participates in terpenoid biosynthesis and indole and ipecac alkaloid biosynthesis, both of which produce many compounds with significant physiological and medicinal properties.