Liana or scandent shrub (or small tree) climbing to ca. 10 m, trunk to 14 cm diam. Branchlets slender, subterete, striate, glabrous. Leaves subcoriaceous, ovate or elliptical, to 15.5 x 8 cm, acuminate or obtuse at apex, rounded at base; petiole canaliculate, glabrous, 3-10 mm long; stipular thorns recurved, stout, to 20 mm long. Inflorescence an axillary or terminal, 15-to ca. 100-flowered, to 40 cm long panicle; axes angular, sparsely pubescent to lanate; pedicels 3-10 mm long, subterete, densely puberulent; bracts leaf-like at base of inflorescence and diminishing in size upwards; bracteoles triangular, concave, to 1.3 mm. Tepals ovate, to 7.5-8 mm, obtuse, white or pale yellow; stamens 30-65, filaments filiform, to 6.5 x 2 mm, anthers linear, to 2.4 mm; ovary ovoid, longitudinally ribbed, with distinct primordia of lateral winglets (fluted enations) at base, style erect, winged on one side, apex subrecurved. Samara to 5 cm long, basal part to 1.1 cm wide, with winglets up to 4 mm wide, terminal wing of variable elongated shape, to 2 cm wide; testa red-brown.
Uses: Based on the Prévost & Grenand and Grenand specimens from French Guiana cited above, Grenand et al. (1987) note that the Wayapi Indians use the plant as a hunting poison, and that the root and stem have almost the same effect as curare made of Strychnos guianensis (LOGANIACEAE), which makes the plant worthy of future intensive study.
Home