Nutty nuts

Nutty nuts
	Common refractory nut ( Strychnos nux-vomica ), illustration
Systematics
	Nuclear eudicotyledons
	Asterids
	Euasterids I
Order :	Enzianartige (Gentianales)
Family :	Nitrous family (Loganiaceae)
Genre :	Nutty nuts
Scientific name
	Strychnos
	L.

The nuke nuts ( Strychnos ) are a genus of plants in the family of the vomitaceae (Loganiaceae). The common German name nugget is a bit misleading because the fruits are berries rather than nuts.

description

Common nugget
( Strychnos nux-vomica )

The Strychnos species are tropical to subtropical woody plants; they grow as trees , bushes or lianas . The plants are reinforced in some species, unreinforced in others. In the species that grow as lianas, the tendrils are axillary and rolled up once or twice, sometimes with axillary thorns. The stipules are usually reduced. The mostly opposite leaves are usually stalked, sometimes directly sessile. The leaf blade is entire with three to seven main leaf nerves.

The terminal or axillary inflorescences are thyrsenic . The stalked or sessile, hermaphrodite flowers are radial symmetry and four to five-fold with a double flower envelope . There are four or five pointed sepals . The four or five petals are röhrig (salver plate-shaped) fused. There is only one circle with four or five stamens . Two carpels have become a top permanent ovary grown. The ovary contains one to two chambers, each containing several ovules . The long, narrow stylus is cylindrical.

The fleshy berry fruits turn orange to red when ripe. The thin to thick-walled berries are 8 to 40 millimeters in length and, depending on the species, spherical or ellipsoidal. The pulp is usually orange in color. They contain one to eight seeds.

Strychnos cocculoides

Strychnos madagascariensis

Strychnos minor

Strychnos potatorum

Strychnos pungens

Fruits of Strychnos spinosa , Burkina Faso

Strychnos usambarensis

Systematics

There are about 190 (170 to 200) species in the genus of the nuke nuts ( Strychnos ); here is a selection:

Strychnos angolensis Gilg
Strychnos angustiflora Benth. : It occurs in Vietnam, the Philippines and China.
Strychnos axillary Colebr. : It occurs in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Yunnan and in Australia.
Strychnos cathayensis Merr. : It occurs in two varieties in Guangdong , Guangxi , Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan and in northern Vietnam.
Strychnos cocculoides Baker : It occurs in tropical and southern Africa.
Strychnos cogens Benth.
Strychnos decussata (cardboard) Gilg : It occurs in tropical, southern Africa and Madagascar.
Strychnos gerrardii N.E.Br. : It occurs in KwaZulu-Natal.
Strychnos gossweileri Exell : It occurs in Cameroon, Congo, Zaire, Angola and Zambia.
Strychnos henningsii Gilg
Ignatius nuke ( Strychnos ignatii P.J.Bergius ): It occurs in Thailand, Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Strychnos innocua Delile : It occurs in tropical Africa.
Strychnos lucens Baker
Strychnos lucida R.Br. : It occurs in Australia, Indonesia and Thailand.
Strychnos madagascariensis Poir. : It occurs in tropical East Africa, in southern tropical Africa and in Madagascar.
Strychnos matopensis S.Moore
Strychnos mellodora S.Moore : It occurs in Tanzania, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
Strychnos minor Dennst. : It occurs in India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Queensland and the Solomon Islands.
Strychnos mitis S.Moore : It occurs in tropical Africa, southern Africa and the Comoros.
Strychnos nitida G.Don : It occurs in India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Guangxi and Yunnan.
Strychnos nux-blanda A.W. Hill : It is native to Cambodia, India, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
Common refractory nut ( Strychnos nux-vomica L. )
Strychnos ovata A.W. Hill : It occurs in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, southern Guangdong and Hainan.
Strychnos potatorum L. f. : It occurs in Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Transvaal, India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.
Strychnos pungens Soler. : It occurs in tropical and southern Africa.
Strychnos spinosa Lam. : It occurs in tropical and southern Africa, Madagascar and Mauritius.
Poison Brechnuss ( Strychnos toxifera M.R.Schomb ex Benth.. ): It occurs in Panama and Colombia.
Strychnos umbellata (Lour.) Merr. : It occurs in Vietnam, Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan.
Strychnos usambarensis Gilg : It occurs in tropical and southern Africa.
Strychnos variabilis De Wild. : It occurs in Congo and Zaire.
Strychnos wallichiana Steud. ex A.DC. : It occurs in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Yunnan and Vietnam.

Toxicity and Usage

Some species are highly toxic; some of the toxic active ingredients are used in medicine. The common peanut nut ( Strychnos nux-vomica ) contains the poisonous alkaloid strychnine in its bark , leaves and seeds . Nevertheless, the fruits of some species ( Strychnos cocculoides , Strychnos pungens , Strychnos spinosa and others) are eaten in tropical and southern Africa. Depending on the type, the pulp is yellow to brown, very juicy and tasty.

Paleobotany

In 2016, two fossil flowers in Dominican amber were described as Stychnos electri . They represent the first fossil flowers of the asterids in the Neotropic to be discovered in amber .

swell

Entry in the Western Australian flora. (English).
Bingtao Li, Antony JM Leeuwenberg: Loganiaceae. : Strychnos , p. 324 - online with the same text as the printed work , In: Wu Zheng-yi, Peter H. Raven (Ed.): Flora of China. Volume 15: Myrsinaceae through Loganiaceae. Science Press and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing and St. Louis 1996, ISBN 0-915279-37-1 (English).

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w Strychnos in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
↑ ^a ^b ^c Bingtao Li & Antony JM Leeuwenberg: Strychnos Linnaeus. - Same text online as the printed work , In: Wu Zheng-yi, Peter H. Raven, Deyuan Hong (Ed.): Flora of China. Volume 15: Loganiaceae. Science Press and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing and St. Louis 2010
↑ Poison flower in amber: Researchers discover the first complete fossil of an asterid flower. scinexx.de, accessed on April 6, 2017 .

Web links

Commons : Nitrous nuts ( Strychnos ) - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Entry in the Flora of Zimbabwe . (English)