Compilation
Strychnos procera

Small, erect, much-branched tree or shrub, 2–10 m. high, with a spreading rounded crown and neither spines nor tendrils. Branchlets pale, ashy or straw-coloured, ± swollen at the nodes and with persistent petiole-bases; young branchlets subquadrangular; lenticels few and inconspicuous. Leaves subsessile, usually rather congested and very variable in size and shape even on the same branchlet, coriaceous or subcoriaceous, broadly ovate, ovate-lanceolate, elliptic or oblong-elliptic, 2–9 cm. long, 1–6 cm. wide, rounded, acute or acuminate at the apex, rounded, cuneate or rarely subcordate at the base, usually shiny above, 3-nerved from the base and often with 1, rarely 2, submarginal nerves on each side; tertiary nerves usually very prominent on both surfaces. Cymes usually compound, axillary and terminal, subsessile or pedunculate; peduncle 0.2–2 cm. long. Flowers fragrant, sometimes cleistogamous, 4–6-merous, sessile or subsessile, often densely clustered, 2–2.5 mm. long and 4 mm. in diameter when open. Calyx-lobes broadly ovate-orbicular, ciliate. Corolla yellow or cream-coloured, subrotate; lobes ovate-deltoid, about 1.5 mm. long, subequal to or longer than the tube, acute or subacute, pubescent within (particularly at the base), more rarely glabrous, usually glabrous outside. Stamens inserted in the sinuses of the corolla-lobes, just exserted. Ovary globose; style short. Fruit globose or ovoid, 8–14 mm. long, 6–11 mm. broad, with a thin rind, red or brown. Seeds usually like coffee-beans with an elongated ridged groove down one side, ellipsoid or elongate-ellipsoid, 9–10 mm. long, 6 mm. broad.