Common Name:

General Information

Strophanthus courmontii can be an erect, deciduous shrub growing up to 4 metres tall or, more commonly, a climbing shrub with stems that can be 22 metres long. The stem can be up to 10cm in diameter[].
The plant is sometimes harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine and source of wood.

Known Hazards

All parts of the plant contain glycosides and are toxic if ingested[].
The seeds are used to make ordeal poison and arrow poison. Such poisoned arrows are still used in north-eastern Tanzania to kill animals that are damaging crops[].

Botanical References

Range

East tropical Africa - Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Habitat

Gallery forest or riverine thickets, less often in forest away from rivers, at elevations from sea-level up to 1,400 metres[].

Properties

Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Deciduous Climber
Height	15.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Not known

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

A root decoction is drunk to treat rheumatism and also as an aphrodisiac[].

Various cardiac glycosides (cardenolides) have been isolated from the unripe seeds. These include panstroside and sarmentocymarin, based on the aglycone sarmentogenin, and sarveroside, based on the aglycone sarverogenin. From ripe seeds the glycosides intermedioside, panstroside, sarmentocymarin and sarveroside were isolated. These glycosides are all highly toxic[].

Other Uses

The wood is used for making walking sticks[].

Propagation

Seed -

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