Gelsemium is a genus of flowering plants belonging to family Gelsemiaceae. The genus contains three species of shrubs to straggling or twining climbers. Two species are native to North America, and one to China and Southeast Asia. Alkaloids in Gelsemium elegans possess a variety of therapeutic properties, including tumor suppression, analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects.
Three novel β-carboline alkaloids characterized with a unique degraded monoterpenoid moiety, gelebolines A–C (1–3), together with 11 known alkaloids of different types, were isolated from the roots of Gelsemiumelegans. The structures of new alkaloids were established on the basis of analysis of spectroscopic data. It is the first example for report of β-carboline from genus Gelsemium (Loganiaceae).

Scrubby forests, thickets; 200--2000 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, N Myanmar, N Thailand, Vietnam].