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Flueggea virosa
Phyllanthaceae FAMILY Least Concern

Flueggea virosa

Flueggea virosa

Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
3/5

Safety & Hazards

The plant contains various alkaloids[1]. The alkaloid virosecurinine is mildly toxic to mice with an LD50 of 73 mg/kg body weight. Death results from violent tonic convulsions and paralysis similar to those observed with strychnine poisoning[1]. The bark is astringent and is sometimes used as a fish-poison, although toxicity to fish appears to be low[1]. Bark-extracts have shown some lethal toxicity to mice[1]. Besides tannin and a dye stuff, two alkaloids, one of them flueggeine, have been detected at 0.4 - 0.6% concentration[1].

Cultivation Details

HabitSemi-deciduous Tree
Growth—

The plant is listed as an invasive species in Florida, United States[2]. A fast growing, hardy shrub suitable for planting under various conditions[2]. A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required[3].

Propagation

Seed - Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Flueggea+virosa>

Pollinators

Bees, Insects

References

  1. [1]The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. — Burkil. H. M. · Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. · 1985 - 2004 ↩︎Brief descriptions and details of the uses of over 4,000 plants. A superb, if terse, resource, it is also available electronically on the Web - see http://www.aluka.org/
  2. [2]Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. — http://www.prota.org ↩︎An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
  3. [3]Trees and Shrubs of the Sahel. Their Characteristics and Uses. — von Maydell H. · Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit; Germany · 1990 · ISBN 3-8236-1198-4 ↩︎A well-researched book, usually with more than one photograph of each species and good information on the plant and its uses.
  4. [4]IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — http://www.iucnredlist.org/ ↩︎A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat.
  5. [5]Edible Wild Plants of Tanzania — Ruffo, C.K.: Birnie, A. & Tengnas, B. · Regional Land Management Unit; Nairobi. · 2002 · ISBN 9966-896-60-0 ↩︎A very well presented, simple guide to growing and utilizing wild food plants in Tanzania, with line drawings of each plant, a description, habitat and range, non-food as well as food uses, plus basic information on growing the plants.
  6. [6]Plant Resources of Southeast Asia — http://proseanet.org/ ↩︎Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
  7. [7]Flora of China — Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. · 1994 · http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive resource in 25 volumes. In addition to the botanical information the flora also gives basic information on habitat and some uses. An on-line version is also available.
  8. [8]Ethnobotanical Studies of Useful Trees of District Kotli, Azad Jammu and Kashmir — Muhammad Ajaib & Zaheer-Ud-Din Khan · 2014 · ISBN 2313-206X ↩︎