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Strophanthus welwitschii

Strophanthus welwitschii
Photo: Robert Taylor, CC BY 4.0

Strophanthus welwitschii is a deciduous shrub, small tree or climbing liana from the dogbane family, found in forests and rocky woodland in tropical Africa. It is grown mainly as a botanical or specimen plant, and its fragrant flowers and cardiac-glycoside-rich tissues make it a plant to handle with care.

Family
Apocynaceae (Dogbane family)
Grows as
Tree, Shrub, Climber
Light
Bright indirect, Part shade
Water
Water moderately during the growing season and let the soil dry between waterings; reduce sharply while deciduous.
Soil
Free-draining, loamy mix with added grit or sand.
Temperature
18–30 °C; protect below 10 °C
How easy
Moderate
Safety
Toxic: The plant contains cardiac glycosides (strophanthin-type compounds) that can cause serious heart effects if ingested; the seeds and sap are especially hazardous.
Native range
Tanzania to Angola
Climate
seasonally dry tropical

About

Strophanthus welwitschii grows as a deciduous shrub or small tree up to 5 metres (16 ft) tall, or as a liana up to 8 metres (26 ft) long, with a stem diameter up to 10 centimetres (4 in). Its fragrant flowers feature a white turning purple corolla, creamy and red or purple-streaked on the inside. Its habitat is forests or rocky woodlands from 300 metres (1,000 ft) to 1,800 metres (6,000 ft) altitude. S. welwitschii is used in local medicinal treatments for respiratory conditions, gonorrhoea and scabies. The plant has been used as arrow poison. Strophanthus welwitschii is native to Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Angola and Zambia.

Other Strophanthus plants

Elephant Vine · Wood Shaving Flower · Tailless Tail Flower · Goat Horns · Emin's strophanthus · Ouabain · Kombe arrow poison · Preuss' strophanthus · Strophanthus · Forest Poisonrope · Strophanthus

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Strophanthus welwitschii 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.

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