Bark
The wood is white, hard, close-grained and durable. Branches are irregular, covered with a smooth ash-coloured bark.
Strychnos nux-vomica
Syn. Strychnos vomica
IUCN Red List
Least Concern
(LC)
Local name
- Poison Nut (English)
- Jher Kochalu (Gujarati)
- Vishatinduka (Sanskrit)
Tree type
Evergreen
Deciduous
Family: Loganiaceae
15m
Indicated uses
Medicinal
Edible
Ornamental
Avenue
Other
Flowering & fruiting
Flowering
Fruiting
Key characters
Leaves
Oppositely arranged, short-stalked leaves are elliptic, shiny and smooth on both sides, about 4 inches long and 3 broad.
Flower
Flowers are small, greenish-white and funnel-shaped, borne in small clusters at the end of branches. They have a disagreeable smell.
Fruit / Seeds
Fruits apple-sized, orange when ripe, with hard shells and jelly-like pulp containing flattened, satiny-haired seeds. 3–4 seeds per fruit.
Did you know?
The highly toxic seeds, which contain strychnine, have featured as a poison in classic detective fiction, including several Sherlock Holmes stories such as The Sign of Four, and Agatha Christie’s debut novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles.
Distribution
India to N. Peninsula Malaysia.