WorldFloraDB - Rauvolfia vomitoria

Characteristics

Shrubs to 5 m tall, glabrous. Stems erect, stiff. Leaves whorled; leaf blade broadly ovate or ovate-elliptic, 5-12 X 3-6 cm; lateral veins 8-17 pairs. Cymes usually 4 together. Corolla greenish or pale green, tube subcylindric, 6-12 mm, inflated at throat, pubescent inside; lobes dolabriform, 1-2 mm. Stamens inserted at corolla throat; disc ringlike, shorter than ovaries. Ovaries distinct. Style filiform, pubescent at base; pistil head fleshy, base membranous. Drupes 2, distinct, ovoid or ellipsoid, 0.8-1.4 cm X 6-9 mm. Fl. Aug-Oct, fr. Oct-Dec. 2n = 22, 66.

More

A shrub or tree. It grows 5-10 m tall. The stems are erect and stiff. The leaves are in rings. They are broadly oval and 5-12 cm long by 3-6 cm wide. The flowers are tube shaped and pale green and hairy inside. The fruit are in pairs and narrowly oval.

Small white to greenish flowers in many-flowered, terminal, ample, verticillate cymes.

Small shrub or tree up to 50 ft. high

Whorled leaves

Life form

perennial

Growth form

shrub

Growth support

free-standing

Foliage retention

evergreen

Sexuality

hermaphrodite

Pollination

entomogamy

Spread

-

Mature width (meter)

-

Mature height (meter)

5.0 - 10.0

Root system

-

Rooting depth (meter)

-

Root diameter (meter)

-

Flower color

Blooming months

Jan	Feb	Mar
Apr	May	Jun
Jul	Aug	Sep
Oct	Nov	Dec

Fruit color

-

Fruiting months

Jan	Feb	Mar
Apr	May	Jun
Jul	Aug	Sep
Oct	Nov	Dec

Nitrogen fixer

-

Photosynthetic pathway

-

Environment

It is a tropical plant. It grows in open spaces in forests and along the edges of forests. In Nigeria it has been recorded at 450-1,500 m above sea level. In XTBG Yunnan.

More

Bush vegetation, gallery forest, secondary vegetation where fallow periods are long, and along roadsides, at elevations from sea-level up to 1,600 metres.

Light	-
Soil humidity	-
Soil texture	-
Soil acidity	-
Soil nutriment	-
Hardiness (USDA)

Usage

Uses	dye environmental use fiber food fuel material medicinal poison wood
Edible	leaves
Therapeutic use	Aphrodisiac (unspecified), Bite(Snake) (unspecified), Congestion (unspecified), Convulsion (unspecified), Dyspepsia (unspecified), Erysipelas (unspecified), Fever (unspecified), Gonorrhea (unspecified), Herpes (unspecified), Jaundice (unspecified), Leprosy (unspecified), Measles (unspecified), Purgative (unspecified), Rheumatism (unspecified), Sedative (unspecified), Sprain (unspecified), Swelling (unspecified), Vertigo (unspecified), Emetic (unspecified), Urethrum (unspecified), Urticaria (unspecified), Yaws (unspecified), Skin (unspecified), Dislocation (unspecified), Gastritis (unspecified), Pediculicide (unspecified), Psoriasis (unspecified), Enteritis (unspecified)
Human toxicity	-
Animal toxicity	-

Cultivation

Plants can be grown from seeds. The fruit are dried and seeds planted fresh. It can be grown from cuttings.

Mode	cuttings seedlings
Germination duration (days)	-
Germination temperacture (C°)	-
Germination luminosity	-
Germination treatment	-
Minimum temperature (C°)	-
Optimum temperature (C°)	-
Size	-
Vigor	-
Productivity	-