Strychnos nux-vomica L.

Taxonomy: Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Gentianales > Loganiaceae > Strychnos > S. nux-vomica

Description: Trees, to 20 m high, bark thin, yellowish or blackish-grey, smooth or scurfy with lenticels; blaze creamy yellow. Leaves simple, opposite, estipulate; petiole 5-13 mm, slender, glabrous; lamina 5-14 x 2-9 cm, elliptic, broadly elliptic or elliptic-ovate, base acute to attenuate, apex acute or obtuse, margin entire, glabrous, shiny, coriaceous; 3-5 nerved from base, prominent, glabrous; intercostae reticulate. Flowers bisexual, greenish-white, in terminal sessile cymes, sessile, tomentose, bract 5 mm; bracteole 1.5 mm; calyx lobes 4, 1 mm long, triangular, acute, pubescent; corolla greenish-yellow, tube 10 mm long, longer than lobes, slightly hairy near the base within, lobes 4, 4 x 1.5 mm, oblong, acute; stamens 4, anthers sessile inserted at the throat of corolla tube; ovary 2-celled, ovules many in each cell. Fruit a berry, 3-5 cm across, globose, yellowish-red or orange, glabrous; seeds 3 or 4, orbicular, flat, shiny, greenish-white, coin like, 2-2.5 cm diameter.

Flowering and Fruiting : March-December

Uses: Medicinal,The seed contains a chemical called `strychnine' extensively used for preparation of medicines,Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, Folk medicine, Sowa-Rigpa, Unani, Siddha, Modern medicine, Traditional chinese medicine

Cultivation: Common

References

http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org

https://indiabiodiversity.org