Common Name:

General Information

Strychnos congolana is a sometimes spiny, climbing shrub producing stems from 20 - 35 metres long and 3 - 10cm in diameter. The stems can climb into the canopy of the forest, supporting themselves by means of tendrils. When growing in more open positions in secondary forest the plant will often adopt a more shrub form of growth[, ].
The plant is sometimes harvested from the wild for local use as a food and medicine.

Known Hazards

Various parts of Strychnos plants, especially the seeds and bark, contain toxic alkaloids such as strychnine and brucine. The fleshy pulp of the ripe fruits, however, is often edible[].

Botanical References

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Range

Tropical Africa - Cote D'Ivoire to Nigeria, DR Congo and Uganda.

Habitat

Dense rainforest, gallery forests and also in the more open secondary formations[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Habit	Climber
Height	25.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Not known

Edible Uses

Fruit - raw[]. The pulp is eaten[, ]. The globose fruit is around 7cm in diameter with a woody shell[].

Medicinal

The leaves are pulped and applied topically as a poultice to treat venomous stings, snakebites etc[, ].

The dried and powdered roots, combined with the seeds of Aframomum melegueta, are made into a paste and administered as a suppository to treat dysmenorrhoea[]. The paste is also used as an aphrodisiac[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed -

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