Jewel Vine — Benefits Deep Dive

🔴 A note on what "Benefits" means on this page, before you read any further. Every herb indexed on this site gets a Benefits leg, because the site's job is to document what is genuinely claimed about a plant and how good the evidence for that claim actually is — whether the science is favorable or not. For Derris elliptica, that documentation exercise does not produce a list of reasons to take this plant internally, because no such reasons exist. No traditional system credits jewel vine with an internal medicinal use, no modern trial has tested it as one, and its main modern legacy — the standard laboratory method for destroying dopamine neurons in animals — is a reason to avoid it, not a reason to take it. If you arrived here hoping for a dosing guide, stop and read the main Jewel Vine page first.

What this Benefits leg documents instead are the plant's two genuinely real claimed-use domains — both of them external — plus the single most consequential fact a reader can learn about this plant: that its common name and genus are shared with Derris scandens, a different species with a real, modern, Thai-government-recognised medicinal record. If you were searching for a joint-pain remedy and landed on this page, the plant you actually want is almost certainly Derris scandens, covered in the second article below — and that mix-up, not any property of Derris elliptica itself, is the reason this Benefits leg exists.

The four articles below cover, in order: what jewel vine's external ectoparasiticide use (lice, mites, ticks, "derris dust") actually consists of and how good the evidence for it is; the Derris scandens confusion in full, because getting the species right matters more here than for almost any other herb on this site; why the old argument "people have eaten tuba-caught fish for centuries without dying, so the plant must be safe" does not hold up arithmetically, alongside two pieces of newer literature — a 2023 ethnobotanical report and a 2024 rodent study — that a search engine might surface and that need the same honest, non-dispositive treatment; and the regulatory history that took rotenone from a farm and garden staple to a substance withdrawn or narrowly restricted almost everywhere, specifically because of the Parkinson's-model findings the parent page describes. Every citation below is a live, pre-validated PubMed search, built to keep Derris elliptica results separated from Derris scandens results — the exact confusion this page exists to prevent.

Table of Contents

  1. Deep-Dive Articles
  2. The Evidence Ledger at a Glance
  3. Key Research: External Antiparasitic Use
  4. Key Research: Derris scandens, the Other Plant
  5. Key Research: Fish-Stunning, Oral Exposure and the Dose Gap
  6. Key Research: Regulatory History
  7. External Resources
  8. Connections

Deep-Dive Articles

External Antiparasitic Use: Lice, Mites, Ticks and Derris Dust

The one real traditional and commercial use of this plant, and it is entirely external. Rotenone as a livestock acaricide against Varroa mites, cattle ticks and sheep lice; the historical human claim against lice and scabies and why the modern indexed literature barely tests it; a controlled trial that found no benefit against sheep itch mite, reported honestly rather than dropped; and why even a topical or dust application is not risk-free — dermal absorption, respiratory irritation, and dogs and cats vomiting after licking treated fur.

Derris Scandens: The Different Plant Jewel Vine Gets Confused With

The most important article in this set. Derris scandens — Thai: thao wan priang — is a real medicinal plant with randomised trials against knee osteoarthritis, a place on Thailand's National List of Essential Medicines, and a modern isoflavonoid chemistry entirely unlike jewel vine's rotenoids. This article lays out what it actually has going for it, how a buyer ends up with the wrong species anyway, and why that confusion is the central risk this whole Benefits leg exists to address.

Fish-Stunning, Oral Exposure and the Dose Gap

"People have eaten tuba-caught fish for centuries, so it must be safe" is the single most common argument for this plant's safety, and it does not survive arithmetic. Real field measurements of how fast rotenone actually disappears from treated water, why a fish's dose and a mouthful of root are not the same number, and an honest look at two newer pieces of literature — a 2023 ethnobotanical report of internal use and a 2024 rat study — that could otherwise be misread as changing the verdict.

Regulatory History: From Pesticide to Withdrawal

Rotenone was once a mainstream organic-approved farm and garden insecticide, sold worldwide as "derris dust." This article covers what farmers and fisheries managers actually used it for, the European Union's 2008 non-inclusion decision, the United States' narrowing of registered uses to fisheries management, and how to read a regulatory withdrawal for what it actually certifies rather than what a headline implies.

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The Evidence Ledger at a Glance

Seven distinct claims sit under the "jewel vine" name, and collapsing them into one verdict is exactly how the central confusion this page addresses gets started. Each row states whether a claim is established, absent (never adequately tested), negative (tested and failed), or belongs to a different species entirely — four different epistemic states that a single word like "unproven" would flatten.

  1. Derris elliptica as an internal remedy for any human ailment — ABSENT, AND ACTIVELY CONTRAINDICATED. No major traditional system records an internal use; no trial has tested one; the toxicology and poisoning case-literature on the parent page give a specific reason not to seek one out.
  2. Rotenone / derris dust as an external ectoparasiticide on livestock (lice, ticks, mites) — ESTABLISHED HISTORICAL USE, MIXED MODERN EFFICACY. Real field and laboratory trials exist; at least one controlled comparison found no benefit for a specific target (sheep itch mite); synthetic acaricides have mostly replaced it. Full discussion on External Antiparasitic Use.
  3. Derris preparations as a human topical pediculicide or scabicide — HISTORICALLY AND ETHNOBOTANICALLY CLAIMED, THIN IN THE MODERN INDEXED LITERATURE. The claim is genuine and old; dedicated modern human trials are essentially absent, which is itself informative about why permethrin and malathion displaced it.
  4. Derris scandens for joint pain and musculoskeletal inflammation — REAL, MODERATE HUMAN TRIAL EVIDENCE, A DIFFERENT SPECIES. Randomised trials, a systematic review and meta-analysis, and inclusion on Thailand's National List of Essential Medicines. None of this transfers to Derris elliptica. Full discussion on Derris Scandens: A Different Plant.
  5. "Fish were eaten after tuba-fishing for centuries, therefore the root is safe to eat" — A DOSE-INCOMMENSURATE ARGUMENT, NOT A SAFETY FINDING. Real fisheries data show the concentrations and clearance times involved; they describe a different exposure by several orders of magnitude from a mouthful of root. Full discussion on Fish Stunning and Oral Safety.
  6. A 2024 rodent leaf-extract study reporting antidiabetic "therapeutic potential" — A SINGLE UNREPLICATED PRECLINICAL STUDY, WRONG PLANT PART, DOES NOT CHANGE THE VERDICT. Real and peer-reviewed, and explained in detail rather than either hidden or oversold, on Fish Stunning and Oral Safety.
  7. Rotenone as a registered agricultural insecticide and piscicide — WITHDRAWN OR SEVERELY RESTRICTED. Non-included in the EU since 2008; most US crop, garden and pet uses cancelled; fisheries management is the surviving registered use, and even that is ecologically contested. Full discussion on Regulatory History.

Read as a set, the ledger makes the point this whole leg is built around: almost everything genuinely good about "Derris" belongs to a different species, and almost everything true about Derris elliptica specifically is either external, historical, or a warning.

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Key Research: External Antiparasitic Use

The real, external, non-ingestive use of jewel vine and rotenone. Full discussion on External Antiparasitic Use.

  1. Le Conte Y and colleagues. "New experimental data on use of rotenone as an acaricide for control of Varroa destructor in honey bee colonies." Journal of Economic Entomology, 2008. PubMed search — modern, real, and about bees, not people.
  2. Rotenone and oxalic acid as alternative acaricidal treatments for Varroa destructor in honeybee colonies. Veterinary Parasitology, 2003. PubMed search.
  3. Catto JB and colleagues. Rotenone and tick/horn-fly control in grazing crossbred calves. Revista Brasileira de Parasitologia Veterinária, 2009. PubMed search — a real field trial, and rotenone's benefit was specific (horn fly), not universal.
  4. Higgs AR, Love RA, Morcombe PW. Efficacy against sheep lice (Bovicola ovis) of six shower-dip preparations, one containing rotenone in combination. Australian Veterinary Journal, 1994. PubMed search — a formula, not rotenone alone; see the full article for why that matters.
  5. Nicholson SS. "Toxicity of Insecticides and Skin Care Products of Botanical Origin." Veterinary Dermatology, 1995. PubMed search — documents that dogs and cats licking rotenone-treated fur can vomit: an ingestion pathway hiding inside a "topical-only" application.
  6. Johnson PW and colleagues. Itchmite (Psorergates ovis) prevalence in sheep flocks; no significant difference between untreated flocks and flocks treated with rotenone and arsenic. Australian Veterinary Journal, 1990. PubMed search — a negative finding, reported because it is one.
  7. Susceptibility of Aedes albopictus larvae to Derris elliptica extract. Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences, 2022. PubMed search — environmental/vector-control application, not human medicine.

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Key Research: Derris scandens, the Other Plant

The genuinely medicinal relative. Full discussion on Derris Scandens: A Different Plant.

  1. Kuptniratsaikul V, Pinthong T, Bunjob M, Thanakhumtorn S. Efficacy and safety of Derris scandens extract in knee osteoarthritis. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 2011. PubMed search.
  2. Puttarak P, Sawangjit R, Chaiyakunapruk N. Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised trials of Derris scandens for musculoskeletal pain. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2016. PubMed search.
  3. Anti-inflammatory isoflavonoids from the stems of Derris scandens. Planta Medica, 2004. PubMed search — the chemistry: isoflavonoids, not rotenoids.
  4. Anti-arthritic and endothelial-protective effects of Derris scandens extract in adjuvant-induced arthritis. PLoS One, 2025. PubMed search — recent in vivo mechanistic work.
  5. Development of a monoclonal-antibody ELISA for quality control of Derris scandens. Journal of Immunoassay and Immunochemistry, 2019. PubMed search — the genistein-glycoside marker behind its Thai Herbal Pharmacopoeia monograph.
  6. Sriwanthana B, Chavalittumrong P. In vitro effect of Derris scandens on lymphocyte proliferation and natural killer cell activity in normal and HIV-1-infected donors. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2001. PubMed search — in vitro human cells, not a clinical trial.

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Key Research: Fish-Stunning, Oral Exposure and the Dose Gap

Why the fish-eating tradition does not amount to a safety trial. Full discussion on Fish Stunning and Oral Safety.

  1. Innos J, Hickey MA. "Using Rotenone to Model Parkinson's Disease in Mice: A Review of the Role of Pharmacokinetics." Chemical Research in Toxicology, 2021. PubMed search — the cornerstone review: route of exposure "influences greatly the dose used."
  2. Finlayson BJ, Eilers JM, Huchko HA. Fate and behavior of rotenone in Diamond Lake, Oregon, following invasive fish eradication — water half-life 4.5 days. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 2014. PubMed search.
  3. Vasquez ME and colleagues. Rotenone formulation fate in Lake Davis after treatment — water half-life 5.6 days; no bioaccumulation in fish tissue. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 2012. PubMed search.
  4. Melo KM and colleagues. Rotenone toxicity to early-life-stage fish: 96-hour zebrafish LC50 of 12.2 µg/L. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2015. PubMed search — the fish dose is measured in micrograms per litre; a mouthful of root is not.
  5. Sundara Rajoo K and colleagues. Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used by the Kenyah community of Borneo, recording Derris elliptica use for fever and influenza. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2023. PubMed search — real, recent, and still not a safety finding.
  6. Abd Rahman R and colleagues. Antidiabetic evaluation of Derris elliptica methanolic leaf extract in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal, 2024. PubMed search — leaf, not root; one uncontrolled 14-day study; read the full article before drawing any conclusion from it.

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Key Research: Regulatory History

What rotenone was used for, at scale, before the withdrawals. Full discussion on Regulatory History: From Pesticide to Withdrawal.

  1. Evaluation of active agents allowed in organic olive farming against Bactrocera oleae, including rotenone. Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part B, 2007. PubMed search — rotenone as a certified organic input, before the rules changed.
  2. Zhou Y and colleagues. Decline curves and residue levels of rotenone in cabbage and soil under field conditions. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 2014. PubMed search — real pre-harvest-interval arithmetic for a food crop.
  3. Plants in the genus Tephrosia: valuable resources for botanical insecticides. Insects, 2020. PubMed search — the wider rotenoid-insecticide class rotenone belongs to.
  4. Impacts of piscicide-induced fish removal on lake invertebrate trophic diversity. Science of the Total Environment, 2022. PubMed search — the ecological argument against even the surviving fisheries use.
  5. On-site GC-MS monitoring of rotenone and degradation products during invasive fish eradication. Journal of Chromatography A, 2024. PubMed search — current best regulatory practice.

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External Resources

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Connections

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