Protabase Record

Prota 11(1): Medicinal plants/Plantes médicinales 1
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Wrightia demartiniana Chiov.

Protologue
Ann. Bot. Roma 13: 405 (1915).
Family
Apocynaceae
Origin and geographic distribution
Wrightia demartiniana occurs in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and northern Tanzania.
Uses
In Kenya ground roots are boiled and the filtrate is drunk to treat kidney problems. Soup made of the fresh roots and chicken is eaten to cure gonorrhoea. Ground twigs in milk are taken as a laxative. Latex is added to goat milk to curdle it to make cheese. The bark is crushed and rubbed on the skin as a perfume. The branches are used to make fire by friction. The plant is eaten by camels and sheep, but is not browsed by goats.
Properties
The phytochemistry of Wrightia demartiniana has not been elucidated yet. Other Wrightia species contain triterpenes.
Botany
Shrub or small tree up to 5 m tall, with white latex; bark black, branches pale brown or grey, branchlets pubescent. Leaves opposite, simple and entire; stipules very small; petiole 0.5–2 mm long, shortly hairy; blade narrowly elliptical, elliptical or obovate, 12–5.5 cm × 0.5–2 cm, base cuneate or decurrent into the petiole, apex rounded to obtuse, short hairy, papery, lateral veins obscure. Inflorescence a terminal cyme on short lateral shoots, few-flowered, 1.5–2.5 cm long; peduncle 1–3 mm long, shortly hairy; bracts sepal-like. Flowers bisexual, regular, 5-merous, sweet-scented; pedicel 4–6 mm long, shortly hairy; sepals fused at base, 1.5–3 mm long, erect, apex obtuse, shortly hairy outside, inside with 5 scales as long as sepals; corolla white or creamy, tube 5–7 mm long, gradually narrowed towards the throat, shortly hairy outside, corona 1–1.5 mm long, shortly lobed, undulate, corolla lobes oblong, 10–15 mm long, overlapping to the left, spreading, apex rounded, inside hairy; stamens inserted at corolla mouth, exserted; ovary superior, consisting of 2 free carpels, style 2–5 mm long, thick, persistent, ending in a pistil head with a globose basal part, a ring in the middle and a 2-lobed apical part. Fruit consisting of 2 narrowly ellipsoid follicles, united at the extreme base, 12–30 cm × c. 8 mm, tapering into a narrow apex, 2-valved, shortly hairy, grey-green, many-seeded. Seeds spindle-shaped, flattened, 19–25 mm long, longitudinally ribbed, pale brown, with a tuft of dirty white hairs 3.5–4 cm long.
Wrightia occurs in the Old World and comprises about 25 species, of which 2 in continental Africa. The Asian Wrightia arborea (Dennst.) Mabb. is cultivated as an ornamental in Senegal and Kenya. Wrightia natalensis Stapf is a small tree occurring in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland and eastern South Africa. In South Africa the ground roots are steeped in water and the pulp is applied to fontanelles of babies to close them. The root is chewed or the root powder is drunk in beer as an aphrodisiac.
Ecology
Wrightia demartiniana occurs in dry rocky Acacia and Commiphora bushland, at 100–1000 m altitude.
Genetic resources and breeding
As Wrightia demartiniana is not uncommon in its distribution area, and not much used, it is probably not threatened by genetic erosion.
Prospects
Wrightia demartiniana will remain of local importance only, unless promising information on its pharmacological activity becomes available.
Major references
• Leeuwenberg, A.J.M., 1988. The African species of Wrightia R.Br. In: Leeuwenberg, A.J.M. (Editor). Series of revisions of Apocynaceae 22. Agricultural University Wageningen Papers 87–5. pp. 33–43.
• Neuwinger, H.D., 2000. African traditional medicine: a dictionary of plant use and applications. Medpharm Scientific, Stuttgart, Germany. 589 pp.
• Omino, E.A. & Kokwaro, J.O., 1993. Ethnobotany of Apocynaceae species in Kenya. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 40: 167–180.
Other references
• Beentje, H.J., 1994. Kenya trees, shrubs and lianas. National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya. 722 pp.
• Bisset, N.G., 1988. Phytochemistry and uses of Wrightia demartiniana and W. natalensis. In: Leeuwenberg, A.J.M. (Editor). Series of revisions of Apocynaceae 22. Agricultural University Wageningen Papers 87–5. p. 54.
• Leeuwenberg, A.J.M., 2003. Apocynaceae. In: Hedberg, I., Edwards, S. & Sileshi Nemomissa (Editors). Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Volume 4, part 1. Apiaceae to Dipsacaceae. The National Herbarium, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Department of Systematic Botany, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. pp. 87–98.
Author(s)

•	G.H. Schmelzer PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands

Editors

•	G.H. Schmelzer PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands
•	A. Gurib-Fakim Faculty of Science, University of Mauritius, Réduit, Mauritius

Associate editors

•	C.H. Bosch PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands
•	M.S.J. Simmonds Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB, United Kingdom
•	R. Arroo Leicester School of Pharmacy, Natural Products Research, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester LE1 9BH, United Kingdom
•	A. de Ruijter PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands

General editors

•	R.H.M.J. Lemmens PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands
•	L.P.A. Oyen PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands

Correct citation of this article:
Schmelzer, G.H., 2006. Wrightia demartiniana Chiov. In: Schmelzer, G.H. & Gurib-Fakim, A. (Editors). Prota 11(1): Medicinal plants/Plantes médicinales 1. [CD-Rom]. PROTA, Wageningen, Netherlands.