Compilation
Acokanthera abyssinica

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Name

Identification
Isotype of Strychnos abyssinica Hochst. [family APOCYNACEAE ] Acokanthera abyssinica (A.DC.) Schweinf. [family APOCYNACEAE ] (stored under name);
Related name
  • Acokanthera oppositifolia
  • Acokanthera schimperi
  • Strychnos abyssinica
  • Acokanthera abyssinica
  • Acokanthera venenata
  • Acokanthera longiflora

Flora

Entry for ACOKANTHERA venenata G. Don [family APOCYNACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Capensis
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora Capensis, Vol 4, page 490, (1909) Author: By OTTOSTAPF.
Names
ACOKANTHERA venenata G. Don [family APOCYNACEAE], Gen. Syst. iv. 485;—Vatke ex Schweinf. in Engl. Jahrb. xvii. Beibl. 41, 46 (footnote); Holmes in Pharm. Journ. ser. 3, xxiv. 42; K. Schum. in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iv. ii. 126 (not of Schweinf. ex Lewin in Engl. Jahrb. xvii. Beibl. 41, 46, and Lewin, l.c. 49–51, 47, fig. A., nor L. Planchon, Prod. Apocyn. 255, nor Vogtherr in Köhler, Mediz. Pfl. iii. t. 64); Stapf in Dyer, Fl. Trop. Afr. iv. i. 94; Sim, For. Fl. Cape Col. 270, t. eliv. fig. 1.
ACOKANTHERA Lamarkii G. Don [family APOCYNACEAE], l.c.
ACOKANTHERA Schimperi Schweinf. [family APOCYNACEAE], in Boll. Soc. Afr. Italia, x. (1891) xi.-xii. 12 (the Taita plant); Pax in Engl. Pfl. Ost.-Afr. B. 519 (the Taita plant).
ACOKANTHERA abyssinica K. Schum. [family APOCYNACEAE], in Engl. Pfl. Ost.-Afr. A. 48 (partly?).
Cestrum venenatum Thunb. [family SOLANACEAE], Prodr. 36; Fl. Cap. ed. Schult. 193.
Cestrum oppositifolium Lam. [family SOLANACEAE], Ill. ii. 5, t. 112, fig. 2; Poir. Suppl. ii. 182.
Toxicophlæa Thunbergii Harv. [family ], in Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. i. 24, and Thes. Cap. 10, t. 16.
Toxicophlæa cestroides A.DC. [family ], Prodr. viii. 336.
Sideroxylum toxiferum Thunb. [family ], Trav. ed. 3, i. 156.
Information
a shrub or a gnarled tree, up to 14 ft. high, glabrous (except sometimes the inflorescence); young branches compressed or ancipitous, smooth; leaves mostly ovate or elliptic, sometimes oblong, rarely lanceolate, acute and usually mucronulate, rarely obtuse, acute at the base, 1 1/2–4 in. long, 3/4–2 in. broad, pale or olive-green when dry, somewhat shining above or on both sides; secondary nerves 6–10 on each side, often with similar interposed tertiary nerves, oblique, parallel, prominent on both sides; veins distinct or obscure; petiole stout, 1–2 lin. long; clusters glabrous or puberulous, sessile or subsessile, usually many-flowered; bracts ovate, brown or the upper pinkish; calyx glabrous or puberulous, 1 lin. long; sepals ovate to ovate-lanceolate, acute to subacuminate, distinctly to very obscurely ciliolate; corolla white to pink, sweet-scented; tube 3 1/2–5 lin. long, puberulous or glabrous without, hairy within; lobes broad-ovate, acute or shortly acuminate, somewhat over 1 lin. long; anthers 1/2– 3/4 lin. long; stigma short, obtuse, conic; berry globose, 1 in. in diam., purplish-black; seeds semi-globose or semi-ellipsoid, 4–6 lin. long. null
Range
Also in Tropical Africa.
Distribution
COAST REGION Mossel Bay Div.; near Mossel Bay, Burchell, 6228! 6300! George Div.; near Kaymans River Gat, Drège! Knysna Div.; near the Bitou River, Burchell, 5303! near the Goukamma River, Burchell, 5603! near Knysna River Ford, Burchell, 5541! Uitenhage Div.; Zuur Berg, Cooper, 1549! and without precise locality, Zeyher, 1184! Albany Div.; Grahamstown, MacOwan, 433! and without precise locality, Cooper, 1549! near the mouth of the Kowie River, MacOwan, Herb. Norm. Austr.-Afr. 814! Bathurst Div.; at the mouth of the Great Fish River, Burchell, 3747! Queenstown Div.; Finchams Nek, 4000 ft., Galpin, 1888! Eastern districts, Cooper, 49!EASTERN REGION Natal; Inanda, Wood, 982! and without precise locality, Gerrard, 139!KALAHARI REGION Transvaal; near Pretoria, McLea in Herb. Bolus, 5700!
Notes
According to Thunberg, the root is used by the Hottentots for poisoning arrows. The Dutch call it “Gift-boom.”

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