Strychnos nux-vomica (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Strychnos nux-vomica L.

Protologue: Sp. pl. 1: 189 (1753).

Vernacular names

• Nux-vomica tree, strychnine plant (En)
• Cambodia: slaêng, slaêng thom
• Laos: 'sêng bua¹(Vientiane)
• Thailand: krachee, tuumka daeng (central), salaeng thom (Nakhon Ratchasima)
• Vietnam: củ chi (general), cô chi (Khanh Hoa), mã tiền.

Distribution

India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China (Cambodia, Laos, southern Vietnam), Thailand and northern Peninsular Malaysia; introduced and locally naturalized in the Philippines (Mindoro).

Uses

The seeds have been used in traditional medicine in many regions as a nervine, stomachic, tonic, aphrodisiac and respiratory and cardiac stimulant, the bark as tonic and febrifuge. The seeds are used in Vietnam to treat rheumatic arthritis and paralysis. In Thailand the leaves are used in the treatment of skin diseases. In India, they are also used as mild irritating rubefacient product to treat alopecia by itensifying the capillary blood flow and keeping the scalp and hair follicles active. In traditional Chinese medicine the dried seeds have been used for promoting blood circulation, alleviating blood stasis and relieving pain. The seeds constitute a major source of strychnine, and the plant is cultivated for this purpose. The wood is used in India for agricultural implements and tool handles, cart wheels and fancy cabinet work.

Observations

• A small to medium-sized tree up to 25 m tall, bole up to 100 cm in diameter, sometimes a liana, branches not rough, yellowish-grey, sometimes with axillary thorns, tendrils absent.
• Leaves broadly ovate to elliptical or suborbicular, 5-18 cm × 4-12.5 cm, petiole 5-12 mm long.
• Inflorescence terminal on short axillary branchlets with usually one pair of leaves, fairly many-flowered.
• Corolla 10-13 mm long, tube about 3 times longer than lobes, sparsely woolly hairy in lower half inside.
• Fruit globose, 2.5-4(-6) cm in diameter, 1-4-seeded.
• Seeds lenticular, orbicular to elliptical, 20-23 mm × 18-20 mm × 4 mm, densely sericeous.

S. nux-vomica occurs often at the edge of dense forest, on river banks and along the shore, on loamy or loamy-sandy soil.

Selected sources

• [107] Balakrishna, P. & Raman, A., 1992. Cecidogenesis of leaf galls of Strychnos nux-vomica (Loganiaceae) induced by the jumping plant louse species Diaphorina truncata (Homoptera: Psylloidea: Psyllidae). Entomologia Generalis 17(4): 285-292.
• [160] Bisset, N.G., 1974. The Asian species of Strychnos. Part III. The ethnobotany. Lloydia 37(1): 62-107.
• [163] Bisset, N.G. & Phillipson, J.D., 1976. The Asian species of Strychnos. Part IV. The alkaloids. Lloydia 39(5): 263-325.
• [193] Bruneton, J., 1995. Pharmacognosy, phytochemistry, medicinal plants. Technique & Documentation Lavoisier, Paris, France. 915 pp.
• [202] Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A-H) pp. 1-1240. Vol. 2 (I-Z) pp. 1241-2444.
• [208] Cai, B.-C., Hattori, M. & Namba, T., 1990. Processing of nux vomica. II. Changes in alkaloid composition of the seeds of Strychnos nux-vomica on traditional drug-processing. Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin 38(5): 1295-1298.
• [285] Corsaro, M.M., Giudicianni, I., Lanzetta, R., Marciano, C.E., Monaco, P. & Parrilli, M., 1995. Polysaccharides from seeds of Strychnos species. Phytochemistry 39(6): 1377-1380.
• [287] Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1948-1976. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials & industrial products. 11 volumes. Publications and Information Directorate, New Delhi, India.
• [332] de Padua, L.S., Lugod, G.C. & Pancho, J.V., 1977-1983. Handbook on Philippine medicinal plants. 4 volumes. Documentation and Information Section, Office of the Director of Research, University of the Philippines at Los Baños, the Philippines.
• [580] Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 + CCXLI pp.
• [790] Kumar, A. & Datta, S.K., 1989. Plantlet regeneration from hypocotyl tissue of Strychnos nux-vomica Linn. Current Science 58(14): 812-813.
• [839] Leenhouts, P.W., 1962. Loganiaceae. In: van Steenis, C.G.G.J. (General editor): Flora Malesiana. Series 1, Vol. 6. Wolters-Noordhoff Publishing, Groningen, the Netherlands. pp. 293-387.
• [911] Massiot, G. et al., 1983. Occurrence of longicaudatine, a new type of bis-indole base and bisnor-C alkaloid H in Strychnos spp. Journal of Organic Chemistry 48(11): 1869-1872.
• [1035] Nguyen Van Duong, 1993. Medicinal plants of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Mekong Printing, Santa Ana, California, United States. 528 pp.
• [1126] Perry, L.M., 1980. Medicinal plants of East and Southeast Asia. Attributed properties and uses. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States & London, United Kingdom. 620 pp.
• [1178] Quisumbing, E., 1978. Medicinal plants of the Philippines. Katha Publishing Co., Quezon City, the Philippines. 1262 pp.
• [1460] Tirel-Roudet, C., 1972. Loganiaceae. In: Vidal, J.E. & Galibert, Y. (Editors): Flore du Cambodge, du Laos et du Viêtnam [Flora of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam]. Vol. 13. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France. pp. 3-89.
• [1475] Tran Cong Khanh, 1987. Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Sippenstruktur des Genus Strychnos L. (Loganiaceae) in der Flora Vietnams. Teil 2: Zur Gliederung der Gattung Strychnos in Vietnam [Contribution to the knowledge on affinity structure of the genus Strychnos L. (Loganiaceae) in the flora of Vietnam. Part 2: On the division of the genus Strychnos in Vietnam]. Feddes Repertorium 98(1-2): 75-104.

Main genus page

• Strychnos (Medicinal plants)

Authors

• Purwaningsih