Common Name:

General Information

Synclisia scabrida is a climbing shrub with slender stems that can be up to 40 metres long. These stems can climb high into the forest canopy, twining around other plants for support[].
A commonly used and important traditional medicine within its native range, the plant is commonly harvested from the wild for local use. It is sometimes sold for medicinal use in local markets[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, DR Congo, Angola.

Habitat

Dense rainforest, and also the more open, secondary formations, at low to medium elevations[].

Properties

Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Climber
Height	30.00 m
Self-fertile	No
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required[].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

An alcoholic leaf decoction is drunk to treat gastric ulcers[].

Pregnant women may tie a piece of liana around the waist to avoid spontaneous abortion[].

The root soaked in alcohol or macerated in boiling water is taken to treat malaria, to prevent threatened abortion and as a common medicine to calm patients with mental disorders such as psychoses. The bitter root, sometimes combined with the stem bark of Garcinia klainii, is put in palm wine, which is drunk to treat venereal diseases and as an aphrodisiac and also to treat prostate problems, asthma and hernia[].

Several alkaloids have been isolated from the stem, including cycleanine, cycleanine N-oxide, norcycleanine, cocsoline and cocsuline[]. Cycleanine has also been isolated from the root bark[].
The leaves contain little alkaloids, but contain a glycoside, provisionally called scabridoside.
An ethanol extract of the leaves, taken simultaneously with a high dose of aspirin, significantly reduced the damage to the glandular tissues of the stomach caused by the aspirin in a dose-dependent way. The same extract also slowed down the transit rate in the small intestine. The total stomach secretion and its acidity were reduced, these results supporting the traditional use of the plant in the treatment of gastric ulcers[].
An aqueous extract of the leaves showed antihistamine and anticholinergic activity, but no analgesic activity[].
Aqueous and ethanol extracts of the leaves slowed down the coagulation of human blood[].
An aqueous extract of the leaves induced an oestrogen-like activity and incresed the uterine weight by about 70% compared to oestradiol benzoate[].
A hot-ethanol extract of the leaves inhibited the growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus[].
Ethanol, cold water and hot water extracts of the root were tested for activity against strains of Escherichia coli, Salmonella sp., Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus sp. And Bacillus subtilis. The ethanol extract was bactericidal against 8 of the 10 test organisms. The cold water extract was bactericidal against strains of Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis and bacteriostatic against 5 others, while the hot water extract was bacteriostatic against only 2 of the organisms[].

Other Uses

A root decoction is used in trial by ordeal ceremonies; when it causes constipation one is innocent, when it causes diarrhoea, one is guilty[].

The root bark contains a yellow dye of unrecorded use[].

Propagation

Seed -

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