Strychnos aculeata
Strychnos aculeata
Safety & Hazards
The seeds are rubbed into a paste and used as arrow poison[ 299 Title Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. Publication Author Website http://www.prota.org Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa. ]. The fruit and a paste from the seed are used as fish poison[ 299 Title Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. Publication Author Website http://www.prota.org Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa. ]. The fruits and especially the seeds of Strychnos aculeata are highly poisonous. The fruit contains saponins. Indole alkaloids were only found in the fruit wall, not in the seeds. Principal indole alkaloids of the root bark are strychnofendlerine and N-acetyl-strychnosplendine. The stem bark contains spermostrychnine, N-acetyl-isostrychnosplendine and N-acetyl-O-methylstrychnosplendine, the latter being also the main indole alkaloid of the fruit. N-acetyl-O-methylstrychnosplendine is partly responsible for the strong muscle-paralysing activity in vitro and in vivo. Spermostrychnine causes clonic convulsions, but no tonic convulsions in mice[ 299 Title Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. Publication Author Website http://www.prota.org Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa. ].
Botanical Description
Strychnos aculeata is a vigorous climbing shrub that can produce stems up to 100 metres long that can climb 40 metres into the top of the canopy in the forest. The stems can be 20 - 22cm in diameter, attaching themselve to other plants by means of tendrils and prickles[ 299 Title Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. Publication Author Website http://www.prota.org Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa. , 332 Title The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. Publication Author Burkil. H. M. Publisher Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. Year 1985 - 2004 ISBN Description 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/ ]. Although poisonous, the plant is often harvested from the wild for local medicinal use. It also supplies materials for making soap, containers etc.