Strychnos
Ordinary Brechnuss ( Strychnos nux vomica )
The crushing nuts ( Strychnos ) are a genus of flowering plants in the family of Brechnuss plants ( Loganiaceae ). The German trivial name crushing nuts is somewhat misleading because the fruits are not nuts, but berries.
Description
The Strychnos species are tropical or subtropical woody plants; they grow as trees, shrubs or lianas. The plants are armed in some species, in others unbewehrt. For species growing vines as the vines are axillary and one or two times rolled, sometimes with axillary thorns. The stipules are usually reduced. The most against permanent leaves are usually petiolate, sometimes sessile directly. The leaf blade is entire, with three to seven main leaf veins.
The terminal or axillary inflorescences are thyrsi. The stalked flowers are radial symmetry or seated, hermaphroditic and four to fünfzählig. The four or five sepals are fused Roehrig, the sepals are much longer than the tube. The four or five petals are fused Roehrig. It's just a circle with four or five stamens present. Two carpels are fused into a superior ovaries. The ovary contains one or two chambers, each containing a plurality of seed plants. The stylus is cylindrical.
Are formed fleshy berry fruit orange when ripe, are red to. They are 8 to 40 mm long, and depending on the type spherical or ellipsoidal and thin - to thick-walled. The flesh is usually orange. They contain one to eight seeds.
System
In the kind of crushing nuts ( Strychnos ) can be distinguished about 190 ( 170 to 200 ) types. Here is a selection of species by GRIN:
- Strychnos angolensis Gilg
- Strychnos angustiflora Benth.
- Strychnos axillaris Colebr.
- Strychnos cathayensis Merr.
- Strychnos cocculoides Baker
- Strychnos cogens Benth.
- Strychnos decussata ( cardboard) Gilg
- Strychnos gerrardii N.E.Br.
- Strychnos gossweileri Exell
- Ignatius Brechnuss ( Strychnos ignatii PJBergius )
- Strychnos henningsii Gilg
- Strychnos innocua Delile
- Strychnos lucens Baker
- Strychnos lucida R.Br.
- Strychnos madagascariensis Poir.
- Strychnos matopensis S.Moore
- Strychnos mello dora S.Moore
- Strychnos minor Dennst.
- Strychnos mitis S.Moore
- Strychnos nitida G.Don
- Strychnos nux - blanda A.W.Hill
- Ordinary Brechnuss ( Strychnos nux vomica L.)
- Strychnos ovata A.W.Hill
- Strychnos potatorum L. f
- Strychnos pungens Soler.
- Strychnos spinosa Lam.
- Poison Brechnuss ( Strychnos toxifera MRSchomb. Ex Benth. )
- Strychnos umbellata ( Lour. ) Merr.
- Strychnos usambarensis Gilg
- Strychnos variabilis De Wild.
- Strychnos wallichiana Steud. ex A.DC.
Use
Some species are highly toxic; the toxic substances found partially medicinal use. The Ordinary Brechnuss ( Strychnos nux vomica ) in bark, leaves and seeds to the toxic alkaloid strychnine. Nevertheless, the fruits of some species (p. cocculoides, S. pungens, S. spinosa, etc.) eaten in tropical and southern Africa. Depending on the flesh is yellow to brown, very juicy and tasty.
Swell
- Entry in the Western Australian flora. (English )
- Entry in the Flora of China. (English )