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Prota 11(1): Medicinal plants/Plantes médicinales 1 Record display |
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Protologue Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 36: 105 (1905). Family Loganiaceae Origin and geographic distribution Strychnos phaeotricha occurs from Ghana east to DR Congo. Uses In DR Congo the seeds are put into a calabash containing embers and the smoke is inhaled to treat tuberculosis in children. Properties Preliminary chemical analysis shows that Strychnos phaeotricha has a low alkaloid content. The tertiary indole alkaloids of the bark have weak muscle-relaxant and convulsant activities. Botany Large liana up to 50 m long, climbing with paired tendrils; stem 2–7 cm in diameter; branchlets brown, without lenticels. Leaves opposite, simple and entire; stipules absent; petiole 2–4 mm long, with some large colleters at the base; blade narrowly obovate to narrowly elliptical, (2.5–)5–16.5(–22) cm × (1.5–)2.5–8 cm, base cordate, apex acuminate, brown hairy, 3-veined from the base. Inflorescence a terminal lax thyrse, 5–8 cm long, many-flowered. Flowers bisexual, regular, 5-merous; sepals fused at base, linear, 0.5–1 mm long; corolla tube 0.5–1 mm long, widening at the throat, lobes narrowly oblong, 2.5–4 mm long, acute, spreading to reflexed, outside brown hairy or sometimes glabrous, inside with a hairy gland just above the base, white, cream or yellow; stamens inserted at the mouth of the corolla tube, exserted, filaments near the base with a 2-lobed hairy gland; ovary superior, ovoid, 1–1.5 mm × 0.5–1 mm, 2-celled, style 1.5–2 mm long, stigma head-shaped. Fruit an ellipsoid berry 25–30 mm × 18–27 mm × 18–25 mm, soft, orange, 3–7-seeded. Seeds obliquely ovoid to ellipsoid, flattened, 15–23 mm × 10–15 mm × 3–6 mm, yellowish brown, smooth. Strychnos comprises about 200 species: about 60 species in Asia, 65 in America and 75 in Africa. Strychnos phaeotricha is the only species in the section Phaeotrichae. Ecology Strychnos phaeotricha occurs in rainforest, including secondary forest, or gallery forest from sea-level up to 700 m altitude. Genetic resources and breeding Strychnos phaeotricha does not seem to be in danger of genetic erosion. Prospects Strychnos phaeotricha will probably remain of local importance as a medicinal plant. Major references • Bohlin, L., Ali, Y. & Sandberg, F., 1974. Screening of African Strychnos species for convulsant and muscle relaxant effects. Acta Pharmaceutica Suecica 11: 233–238. • Disengomoka, I., Delaveau, P. & Sengele, K., 1983. Medicinal plants used for child’s respiratory diseases in Zaire. Part 2. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 8: 265–277. • Leeuwenberg, A.J.M., 1969. The Loganiaceae of Africa 8. Strychnos 3. Revision of the African species with notes on the extra-African. Mededelingen Landbouwhogeschool Wageningen 69–1. Wageningen, Netherlands. 316 pp. • Leeuwenberg, A.J.M. (Editor), 1980. Angiospermae: Ordnung Gentiales. Fam. Loganiaceae. Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien. Second Edition. Band 28 b-1. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, Germany. 255 pp. Other references • Bouquet, A. & Fournet, A., 1975. Recherches chimiques préliminaires sur les plantes médicinales du Congo-Brazzaville (3ème Note). Fitoterapia 46(4): 175–191. • Neuwinger, H.D., 2000. African traditional medicine: a dictionary of plant use and applications. Medpharm Scientific, Stuttgart, Germany. 589 pp. Author(s)
Editors
Correct citation of this article: de Ruijter, A., 2008. Strychnos phaeotricha Gilg. In: Schmelzer, G.H. & Gurib-Fakim, A. (Editors). Prota 11(1): Medicinal plants/Plantes médicinales 1. [CD-Rom]. PROTA, Wageningen, Netherlands. |