''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 ot ...
, 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 and parts of
China. 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 m ...
n (Czech)
Jesuit 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.
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 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 and
brucine.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1296183
ignatia
Fruit trees