Strophanthus

Strophanthus 

a genus of woody lianas or, less frequently, shrubs of the family Apocynaceae. The leaves are opposite and entire, and the flowers are in dichasia. The calyx is five-toothed. The corolla is tubular and five-lobed; in many species the lobes are long, ribbonlike, and often twisted. The fruit consists of two follicles, which dehisce horizontally at maturity and together sometimes reach a length of 1 m. The seeds have a hairy pappus.

There are 50 to 60 species, distributed in tropical Africa, on Madagascar, and in South and Southeast Asia. The seeds contain poisonous glycosides—strophanthins—which are used in medicine. Most often used are the seeds of S. gratus, S. hispidus (western and tropical Africa), and S. kombe (southeastern Africa).

REFERENCE

Murav’eva, D. A., and A. F. Gammerman. Tropicheskie i subtropi-cheskie lekarstvennye rasteniia. Moscow, 1974.

V. N. GLADKOVA