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Loganiaceae FAMILY

Spigelia anthelmia

Spigelia anthelmia

Edibility
0/5
Medicinal
3/5

Safety & Hazards

Although used medicinally, the plant is poisonous and has been used in criminal poisoning[1, 2]. Effects of a medicinal overdose in humans include excitement, dizziness, delirium, dilation of the pupils, vomiting and convulsions[2]. Ingestion of the plant may cause dimness of vision with dilated pupils, giddiness, spasms of eye and facial muscles, and convulsions; it can be fatal to children[3]. The fresh plant has been used as a rat poison[2]. Fruiting plants, eaten in large quantities, are poisonous to cattle, causing death 2 - 3 hours after ingestion. However, the intake of sufficient other forage, may cancel out the toxic effects[2].

Cultivation Details

HabitAnnual
Growth—

Succeeds in any fertile soil in a position in full sun or partial shade[4]. The plant has become naturalized in many parts of the tropics outside its native range, particularly in Africa and Indonesia[4, 2]. Plants can flower and produce seed all year round[2].

Propagation

Seed - remains viable for at lest three years[2]. Freshly sown seeds have shown a period of dormancy[2]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Spigelia+anthelmia>

Pollinators

Self

References

  1. [1]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  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]Medicinal Plants of the Guianas — DeFilipps, R. A.; Maina, S. L.; & Crepin, J. · Smithsonian Museum · http://botany.si.edu/bdg/medicinal/index.html ↩︎A down-loadable PDF document of a book in pre-publication awaiting illustration. An excellent, if rather terse, guide to the traditional medicinal uses of the plants of the region
  4. [4]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  5. [5]Manual of the Southeastern Flora. — Small J.K. · University of N. Carolina Press. · 1933 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎Getting rather dated now, an immense work covering the flora of Southeastern N. America. No pictures, it is not for the casual reader. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  6. [6]Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden Vol. 54 — Missouri Botanical Garden · 1967 ↩︎An excellent botanical publication, available for download from the Internet. This volume contains parts of the Flora of Panama.
  7. [7]Flora of Peru — Macbride. J.F. · Field Museum of Natural History · 1936 ↩︎An excellent attempt at a Flora of Peru, though it is clear that many of the plants were imperfectly known at that time and so information on them was sketchy. Available for download from the Internet.
  8. [8]Flora of Costa Rica — Standley P.C. · Field Museum of Natural History; Chicago · 1938 · http://www.archive.org/ ↩︎Rather dated, but an excellent treatment of the area. Available for download from the internet.
  9. [9]Flora of Guatemala — Standley P.C. & J. A. Steyermark · 1946 - 1976 · http://www.archive.org/ ↩︎A superb reference, though somewhat dated. Gives lots of plant uses as well as information on plant habit and habitat. The entire flora (13 volumes) can now be downloaded from http://www.archive.org/