Strychnos
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Strychnos is a genus of flowering plants, belonging to family Loganiaceae (sometimes Strychnaceae). The genus includes about 190 species of trees and lianas, distributed around the world's tropics.
Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture |
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Strychnos (an old Greek name used by Theophrastus for some plants belonging to Solanaceae). Loganiaceae. Scandent shrubs with short tendrils, or trees, of economic importance: some of the species have been introduced into the southern United States. Leaves opposite, in scandent species some axils bear short clavate tendrils, the adjacent lf. being often suppressed: cymes terminal or lateral; bracts small: fls. white to yellowish; calyx 5-4-lobed; corolla 5-4-cleft, tube short or long or hardly any, lobes valvate; stamens 5; ovary 2-celled (or 1-celled above): berry globose or oblong. — About 220 species, tropics of both hemispheres. S. Schumanniana, Gilg (S. Schumanni, Hort.). Tree, 12-22 ft. high with axillary recurved spines: lvs. decussate, elliptical, gray-pilose on both surfaces: cymes terminal on the gray branches, many-fld.: calyx gray-hirsute, lobes linear; corolla-lobes deltoid-ovoid: fr. edible. Trop. Afr. Reported as intro. into S. Calif. but not successful. — S. Volkensii, Gilg. Tree, 30-40 ft. high: branchlets armed at the nodes with curved pungent spines: lvs. oblong or oblong-ovate, glabrous: cymes lax, many-fld., from the tip of the branches; sepals ovate; corolla-lobes ovate: fr. shaped like an orange, edible. Trop. Afr. Reported as intro. into S. Calif. but not successful. CH
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Cultivation
Propagation
Pests and diseases
Species
- Strychnos arborea
- Strychnos decussata
- Strychnos ignatia ("St. Ignatius bean"), is a closely related Asian shrub/tree.
- Strychnos nux-vomica (Strychnine tree), native to tropical Asia, is the source of the poison strychnine.
- The ripe seeds of Strychnos potatorum,[1][2], known as Therran or Nirmal,[3] can be ground and used as a coagulant to purify water; or they may be rubbed against the inside walls of the earthenware water containers.
- Strychnos spinosa (Lam.), commonly known as the Natal orange and Strychnos pungens, from Southern Africa; which are drought-tolerant and produce edible fruits.
- Strychnos toxifera is one of the 2 plant sources of the poison curare.
Gallery
References
External links
- w:Strychnos. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
- Strychnos QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)