''Strychnos ignatii'' is a tree in the family

Loganiaceae The Loganiaceae are a family of flowering plants classified in order Gentianales. The family includes up to 13 genera, distributed around the world's tropics. There are not any great morphological characteristics to distinguish these taxa from o ...

, native to the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, particularly in

Catbalogan Catbalogan, officially the City of Catbalogan ( war, Siyudad han Catbalogan; fil, Lungsod ng Catbalogan), is a 5th class component city and capital of the province of Samar, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 106,44 ...

and parts of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The plant was first described by the

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The me ...

n (Czech)

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

working in the Philippines,

brother A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...

Georg Kamel who named its seeds "the beans of St. Ignatius", in honour of the founder of his

religious order A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practi ...

Etymology

The plants was originally named by Kamel for

Saint Ignatius of Loyola Ignatius of Loyola, S.J. (born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; eu, Ignazio Loiolakoa; es, Ignacio de Loyola; la, Ignatius de Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spanish Catholic priest and theologian, ...

, the founder of Kamel's

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missionary order. It is known in the Philippines under the names of: aguwason, dankkagi (Visayan language) or igasud (in Cebuano language).

Fruit

The fruit of ''S. ignatii'' is the size and shape of a pear, and has almond-like seeds known as Saint Ignatius' beans.

Strychnine

The beans of the plant contain the alkaloids

strychnine Strychnine (, , US chiefly ) is a highly toxic, colorless, bitter, crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine, when inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the eye ...

and

brucine Brucine, is an alkaloid closely related to strychnine, most commonly found in the ''Strychnos nux-vomica'' tree. Brucine poisoning is rare, since it is usually ingested with strychnine, and strychnine is more toxic than brucine. In synthetic ch ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1296183 ignatia Fruit trees