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Iochroma arborescens
Iochroma arborescens is a large shrub or small tree of the nightshade family, reaching about 10 m, grown for its fragrant clustered flowers and bright orange bird-attracting fruit. It is a species, not a genus, and its toxicity is documented in herbarium notes, so treat it as poisonous.
Iochroma arborescens is a species of flowering plant in the genus Iochroma, belonging to the nightshade family Solanaceae. Formerly it was considered the single species in the monotypic genus Acnistus. Common names include gallinero (= 'henhouse'), mata-gallina (= 'chicken-killer'), fruta-de-sabiá (= 'thrush-fruit'), hollowheart, wild tobacco, siyou, bastard sirio, galán arbóreo, tabaco de monte (= 'mountain tobacco'), nigüito, marieneira, güitite, and tabak djab (= 'devil's tobacco').
Iochroma arborescens is grown as an ornamental tree for gardens and natural landscaping projects for its attractive flowers and abundant beautiful golden fruit, the latter being relished by many species of birds – whence its Brazilian common name Fruta-de-sabiá
(Portuguese for 'thrush fruit').
Iochroma arborescens is seldom portrayed in the literature as a particularly poisonous plant, but two sets of herbarium notes from dried specimens held by the New York Botanical Garden present a different picture : a specimen collected in Peru bears the note 'sap very poisonous' and gives the common name 'Catahui', while another collected in Martinique under the synonym Atropa arborescens carries the German note 'Die Pflanze enthält narkotisch giftige Stoffe' (the plant contains narcotic poisons).
The plant is native to Central and South America, and the Caribbean, a species characteristic of Montane cloud forests (in clearings, forest edges etc.) between 300 and 2000m elevation. In Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, it is classified by the US Department of Agriculture as a native plant species.
Leaf extracts in have been used in folk medicine for cancerous growths, and scientific studies indicate that compounds present in the plant display in vitro cytotoxic activity against a panel of human cancer cell lines. A hot infusion of the leaves or bark has been used for bruises and sprains.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Iochroma arborescens by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
