Common Name:

General Information

Strychnos camptoneura is a very vigorous climbing shrub capable of producing stems up to 120 metres long that climb into the canopy of the forest, attaching themselves by means of tendrils. The stems can be from 2 - 25cm in diameter[, ].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local medicinal use.

Known Hazards

The root bark, combined with the plant sap of Periploca nigrescen and sometimes other plant species, is used as an arrow poison[].
The fruit, and the root, are both used as a fish poison[].

Botanical References

Range

West tropical Africa - Liberia to the Central African Republic, south to DR congo.

Habitat

Dense rainforest and the more open secondary formations, often in damp sites; at elevations up to 700 metres[, ].

Properties

Medicinal Rating
Habit	Climber
Height	40.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Not known

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

Although toxic, the plant is used locally in traditional medicine. It is rich in alkaloids, with a total alkaloid content in the leaves of over 2% and both the stem and root barks also rich in alkaloids. At least 10 monomeric indole alkaloids have been isolated[].
Serpentine, one of the alkaloids present, has been shown to inhibit topoisomerase II and has shown cytotoxic activity against some tumour cell lines[].
Retuline, another alkaloid, has a significant anti-oedematogenic activity in anti-inflammatory tests[].
Akagerine is a potent convulsant agent, though it is 100 times less active than strychnine[].
Kribine causes clonic and tonic convulsions[].
Stem bark and root bark extracts have strong muscle relaxant activity[].

The bark is eaten, or a maceration in water or palm wine is taken, in order to treat lack of sexual strength[]. The bark is also used to treat malaria[]. A tea made from the stem bark, sweetened with honey, is taken to treat stomach-ache, kidney pain and hernia[].

A warm decoction of the leaves, bark, or dry powdered bark, is applied to wounds and ulcers[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed -

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