Tinkturenpresse

Tripterygium wilfordii Hook.f. - syn. Tripterygium hypoglaucum (H.Léveillé) Hutchinson; Aspidopterys hypoglauca H.Léveillé - Celastraceae
雷公藤 lei gong teng (chin.), thunder god vine, Wilfords Dreiflügelfrucht

Deciduous subshrubs or sometimes semiwoody vine, 2-10m, native to China, Japan, Korea, NE Myanmar; leaves ovate or rounded-ovate, sometimes oblong or elliptic-ovate, margin entire or less often crenulate; thyrses large, composed of several to dozens of thyrselets; flowers normal and as unfertilized male, whitish, greenish, or yellow-green, small, 4-6mm, calyx 5-lobed, petals 5, stamens 5, stigma bright purple; samara usually green or greenish brown when mature, sometimes pink or pinkish purple. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200012839

Used in traditional Chinese medicine for relieving autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, and for treating cancer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripterygium_wilfordii

„… Celastrol, a pentacyclic triterpene extracted from the roots of Tripterygium Wilfordi (thunder god vine) plant, is a powerful anti-obesity agent. Celastrol suppresses food intake, blocks reduction of energy expenditure, and leads to up to 45% weight loss in hyperleptinemic diet-induced obese (DIO) mice by increasing leptin sensitivity, but it is ineffective in leptin-deficient (ob/ob) and leptin receptor-deficient (db/db) mouse models. These results indicate that Celastrol is a leptin sensitizer and a promising agent for the pharmacological treatment of obesity.“
[Treatment of obesity with celastrol., Liu, J., Lee, J., Hernandez, M.A.S., Mazitschek, R., Ozcan, U., Cell, 161(5), 2015, 999-1011]

Celastrol action (C) http://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674%2815%2900559-0

Picture: Flora of China @ www.efloras.org