''Strychnos'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants t ...

s, belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Loganiaceae (sometimes Strychnaceae). The genus includes about 100 accepted

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s and

liana A liana is a long- stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word ''liana'' does not refer to a t ...

s, and more than 200 that are as yet unresolved. The genus is widely distributed around the world's tropics and is noted for the presence of poisonous indole alkaloids in the roots, stems and leaves of various species. Among these alkaloids are the well-known and virulent poisons

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 e ...

and

curare Curare ( /kʊˈrɑːri/ or /kjʊˈrɑːri/; ''koo-rah-ree'' or ''kyoo-rah-ree'') is a common name for various alkaloid arrow poisons originating from plant extracts. Used as a paralyzing agent by indigenous peoples in Central and South ...

Etymology

The name ''strychnos'' was applied by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...

in his '' Natural History'' to ''

Solanum nigrum ''Solanum nigrum'', the European black nightshade or simply black nightshade or blackberry nightshade, is a species of flowering plant in the genus '' Solanum'', native to Eurasia and introduced in the Americas, Australasia, and South Africa. Rip ...

''. The word is derived from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...

στρύχνον (''strúkhnon'') – "acrid", "bitter". The meaning of the word ''strychnos'' was not fixed in Ancient Greece, where it could designate a variety of different plants having in common the property of toxicity.

Distribution

The genus has a

pantropical A pantropical ("all tropics") distribution is one which covers tropical regions of both hemispheres. Examples of species include caecilians, modern sirenians and the plant genera ''Acacia'' and '' Bacopa''. ''Neotropical'' is a zoogeographic te ...

distribution.

Taxonomy

The genus is divided into 12 sections, though it is conceded that the sections do not reflect evolution of the genus, and all sections except ''Spinosae'' are polyphyletic: * ''Strychnos'' (53 species) * ''Rouhamon'' (21 species) * ''Breviflorae'' (32 species) * ''Penicillatae'' (17 species) * ''Aculeatae'' (1 species) * ''Spinosae'' (4 species) * ''Brevitubae'' (18 species) * ''Lanigerae'' (32 species * ''Phaeotrichae'' (1 species) * ''Densiflorae'' (8 species) * ''Dolichantae'' (9 species) * ''Schyphostrychnos'' (1 species)

Selected species

*'' Strychnos benthami'' C.B. Clarke *''

Strychnos camptoneura ''Strychnos camptoneura'' is a species of plant in the Loganiaceae family. It is native to Camaroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo and Zaire. ...

Gilg Gilg is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Candice Gilg (born 1972), French freestyle skier * Deborah R. Gilg (born 1951), American lawyer *Ernest Friedrich Gilg (1867–1933), German botanist * Karl Gilg (1901–1981), German ch ...

& Busse *''

Strychnos chromatoxylon ''Strychnos chromatoxylon'' is a species of plant in the Loganiaceae family. It is found in Cameroon, Central African Republic, and Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a c ...

'' Leeuwenb. *'' Strychnos elaeocarpa''

ex Leeuwenb. *''

Strychnos icaja ''Strychnos icaja'' is a species belonging to the plant family Loganiaceae, native to West Tropical Africa. It is a very large, tropical rainforest liana which may attain a length of . Taxonomy The species was published in the journal ''Adanso ...

Baill. Henri Ernest Baillon was a French botanist and physician. He was born in Calais on 30 November 1827 and died in Paris on 19 July 1895. Baillon spent his professional life as a professor of natural history, and he published numerous works on b ...

*''

Strychnos ignatii ''Strychnos ignatii'' is a tree in the family Loganiaceae, native to the Philippines, particularly in Catbalogan and parts of China. The plant was first described by the Moravian (Czech) Jesuit working in the Philippines, brother Georg Kamel ...

'' P.J. Bergius *''

Strychnos madagascariensis ''Strychnos madagascariensis'', the black monkey orange, is an African tropical and sub-tropical tree belonging to the Loganiaceae family. It is a tree with characteristically large fruit but can confused with some other species of the genus. ...

Poir. Jean Louis Marie Poiret (11 June 1755 in Saint-Quentin7 April 1834 in Paris) was a French clergyman, botanist, and explorer. From 1785 to 1786, he was sent by Louis XVI to Algeria to study the flora. After the French Revolution, he became a p ...

*''

Strychnos mellodora ''Strychnos mellodora'' is a species of plant in the Loganiaceae family. It is found in Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, betw ...

S. Moore Spencer Le Marchant Moore (1 November 1850 – 14 March 1931) was an English botanist. Biography Moore was born in Hampstead. He worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, from about 1870 to 1879, wrote a number of botanical papers, and then wor ...

*'' Strychnos millepunctata'' Leeuwenb. *'' Strychnos nux-blanda'' - (Assam to Southeast Asia) *''

Strychnos nux-vomica ''Strychnos nux-vomica'', the strychnine tree, also known as nux vomica, poison fruit, semen strychnos, and quaker buttons, is a deciduous tree native to India and to southeast Asia. It is a medium-sized tree in the family Loganiaceae that grow ...

'' L. *'' Strychnos potatorum'' L.f. *'' Strychnos psilosperma''

F.Muell. Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Victo ...

*''

Strychnos pungens ''Strychnos pungens'' (English: spine-leaved monkey-orange, Afrikaans: Stekelblaarklapper) is a tree which belongs to the Loganiaceae. Usually about 5m tall, occurring in mixed woodland or in rocky places. Branches are short and rigid. Leaves are ...

'' Soler. *'' Strychnos spinosa'' Lam. *'' Strychnos staudtii''

*'' Strychnos tetragona'' A.W.Hill *'' Strychnos toxifera'' R.H.Schomb. ex

Lindl. John Lindley FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist. Early years Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley ...

*''

Strychnos usambarensis ''Strychnos usambarensis'' is a shrub or small tree up to 15m tall or a 70m long liane of Sub-Saharan Africa, occurring in forest and woodland, mountain ravines and coastal bush, often on rocky slopes and named for the Usambara Mountains of Tanza ...

ex Engl. * The

strychnine tree ''Strychnos nux-vomica'', the strychnine tree, also known as nux vomica, poison fruit, semen strychnos, and quaker buttons, is a deciduous tree native to India and to southeast Asia. It is a medium-sized tree in the family Loganiaceae that grows ...

, ''Strychnos nux-vomica'', native to tropical

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

, is the source of the

poison Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...

. * ''Strychnos tonga'', native to

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

, is a synonym of "'Strychnos spinosa''. * ''

'' ("St. Ignatius bean"), is a closely related Asian shrub/tree. * The species '' Strychnos toxifera'', a principal plant source of the

arrow poison Arrow poisons are used to poison arrow heads or darts for the purposes of hunting and warfare. They have been used by indigenous peoples worldwide and are still in use in areas of South America, Africa and Asia. Notable examples are the poisons se ...

. * Three trees from

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number o ...

, commonly known as "monkey oranges", are drought-tolerant and produce popular edible fruits: the corky-barked monkey orange or suurklapper, '' Strychnos cocculoides'', the Natal orange or green or spiny monkey orange, '' Strychnos spinosa'', and the black or spiny-leaved monkey orange ''

''. * The ripe seeds of '' Strychnos potatorum'', known as Therran or Nirmal, can be ground and used as a coagulant to purify water; or they may be rubbed against the inside walls of the earthenware water containers. Mrs Grieve's Herbal of 1931 also mentions traditional water purification uses of an Indian species called ''Strychnos pseudo'' (not a valid botanical name). *Two very well preserved fossilised corollas with

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the fila ...

s and styles from flowers of a plant that has been named ''Strychnos electri'' (the Latin name of amber is ''electrum''), believed to be a vine, were discovered in

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In M ...

from the Dominican Republic. The amber is from tropical tree ''

Hymenaea protera ''Hymenaea protera'' is an extinct prehistoric leguminous tree, the probable ancestor of present-day '' Hymenaea'' species. Most neotropical ambers come from its fossilized resin, including the famous Dominican amber. ''H. protera'' once grew in ...

'', formerly abundant but now extinct, which formed part of the forest canopy. The age of the amber is believed to be between 15 and 45 million years, from the mid-

Tertiary period Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

. This demonstrates an early date for these plants.New species of ancient tropical flower found in amber from the Dominican Republic
Rachel Sullivan,

ABC News Online ABC News, or ABC News and Current Affairs, is a public news service produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Broadcasting within Australia and the rest of the world, the service covers both local and world affairs. The division of ...

, 16 February 2016, Article number 16005

Gallery

File:Strychnos madagascariensis (4337703118).jpg, ''

'' File:Strychnos nux-vomica flowers 04.JPG, ''

'' flowers File:Strychnos potatorum 05.jpg, '' Strychnos potatorum'' File:Strychnos psilosperma foliage and fruit.jpg, '' Strychnos psilosperma'' File:Strychnos pungens, blomme, b, Seringveld.jpg, ''

'' flowers File:Strychnos pungens, vrug, Little Eden.jpg, ''

'' detached fruit File:Strychnos spinosa tree.jpg, '' Strychnos spinosa'' tree in fruit File:Strychnos usambarensis00.jpg, ''

'' in flower File:Strychnos usambarensis02.jpg, ''

'' in fruit

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q904222 Gentianales genera Pantropical flora Poisonous plants