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Strophanthus sarmentosus
Also called Arrow Poison, Poison Arrowvine, Spider Tresses
Strophanthus sarmentosus is a climbing or shrubby plant from tropical Africa, grown in the wild and sometimes as an ornamental for its fragrant flowers. It is a poisonous plant and is not suited to casual growing in the home garden.
Strophanthus sarmentosus grows as either a deciduous shrub or as a liana up to 40 metres (130 ft) long, with a stem diameter up to 15 centimetres (6 in). Its fragrant flowers feature a white to purple corolla, red or purple-streaked on the inside. Strophanthus sarmentosus is native from west and central tropical Africa to Uganda and Angola. Vernacular names for the plant include spider tresses and poison arrow vine. Its habitat is forested areas from sea level to 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) altitude.
The numerous local medicinal uses of S. sarmentosus include treatment of joint pain, head lice, eye conditions and venereal disease. The plant has also been used as arrow poison. Botanist John Baldwin discovered that Strophanthus sarmentosus was a natural source of the steroid hormone cortisone and was used in the early manufacture of cortisone-based drugs.
Elephant Vine · Wood Shaving Flower · Tailless Tail Flower · Goat Horns · Emin's strophanthus · Ouabain · Kombe arrow poison · Preuss' strophanthus · Forest Poisonrope · Strophanthus welwitschii · Strophanthus
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Strophanthus sarmentosus 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.
