Strychnos nux-vomica L.

Liana or tree up to 20 m high. Twigs slightly pubescent, glabrescent; branches yellowish grey, not rough, sometimes with axillary thorns. Leaves broadly ovate to elliptic, (4.5-)7.5-15 by (3.5-)6.5-11 cm, pergamentaceous to chartaceous, glabrous, faintly cordate to rounded at the base, apex blunt or gradually acuminate, in the latter case with a broadly triangular acumen, often mucronulate; 3-5-plinerved, the inner pair diverging slightly above the base, the outer pair mostly faint, midrib often with two additional stronger nerves in the upper leaf-half; petioles 6-11 mm. Inflorescences terminal on short axillary branchlets with usually one pair of normal leaves, mostly laxly pyramidal and fairly many-flowered, 4-4.5 cm long, thinly tomentose. Calyx 1-1.25 mm high, sepals ovate, blunt to acute, outside fairly densely pubescent, inside glabrous. Corolla salver-shaped, 10-12 mm long, tube 6.5-9 mm, inside in the lower half sparsely woolly, margins of the lobes thickened and minutely tomentose. Stamens inserted in the mouth, anthers subsessile, cleft to slightly below the middle, elliptic, 1¾ mm, blunt, glabrous. Ovary ovoid, 1 mm, glabrous; gradually narrowed into the style, the latter 10 mm, sparsely woolly hairy about the middle; stigma orbicular. Fruits few on strongly thickened branches, globular, c. 3-4(-6) cm ø, somewhat scabrous. Seeds c. 4, lenticular, orbicular to elliptic, 2-2¼ by 1¾-2 cm by c. 4 mm, densely sericeous.

A tropical plant. It grows in deciduous forests and along riverbanks and shores. It grows up to 1,200 m above sea level. In Yunnan.

CAUTION: The alkaloid Strychnine occurs in this plant and is very poisonous. The seeds are poisonous. The alkaloid strychnine is used in the distillation of country spirits. The fruit pulp is eaten.

Plants can be grown from seeds.