Strychnos rubiginosa A.DC.
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Authority
Krukoff, Boris A. 1965. Supplementary notes on the American species of Strychnos VII. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 12: 1-94.
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Family
Loganiaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - An erect shrub becoming scandent above, provided with spines and tendrils.
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Discussion
“Local name: Grão de Galo (Paraiba). Ducke makes a very useful observation to the effect that in his opinion numerous plants examined by him in the field in the State of Pernambuco doubtless pertain to a single species (31: 39). For information on the position of this species in Ducke’s key made on the basis of fruit characters, see under S. rondeletiodes. Under poorly known S. albiflora and somewhat better known S. acuta, I discuss the necessity of additional collections. For a better understanding of these two species as well as for a satisfactory treatment of the extremely variable S. rubiginosa, good flowering material (plus a series of specimens from various parts of mature and young plants) of the latter (particularly from the States of. Espirito Santo and Santa Catarina) is badly needed. It is to be recalled that in addition to twenty-four collections which we place with S. rubiginosa—without doubts—15 additional sterile specimens were cited by us under this species with doubts. They may belong to one or more entities and it may yet be necessary to reinstate S. fulvotomentosa as a valid species. This is amply covered in our previous papers (4: 348; 7: 10). In our paper (4: 348) we cite 11 specimens from Espirito Santo tentatively under S. rubiginosa under provisional collectors’ numbers (? OVB-26, etc.). In their paper (35: 10) Luiz Emygdio de Mello Filho and João de Souza Campos (two of the collectors) also have given the numbers of these specimens under which they are deposited with Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro and on a map facing page 16, they also indicated the precise localities of the collections of these 11 specimens. For information on the tests of crude extracts of this species for curare-like action, see under S. trinervis. This species was studied chemically and pharmacologically by Marini-Bettolo, Bovet and their coworkers. For the alkaloid content, toxicity and curare activity of the total extracts, see (94: 856) ; also (95: 1144). For rather extensive studies of the alkaloids of this species, see (96). In the summary the authors state that on extracting the plant a mixture of different alkaloids was obtained and 16 alkaloids were recognized by the use of chromatographic methods. The alkaloids which were characterized are as follows: “Alkaloid I, Calebassine (= Toxiferine II = C-strychnotoxine I), alkaloids of the group Curarine, Fluorocurarine (= C-curarine III), Fluorocurinine, Mavacurine” (108:269). The above referred to work was done on stem bark collected by Ducke near Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil in July 1952 (94: 862; 95: 1145).
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Distribution
Brazil: Riedel 549 (US). Paraiba (Areia), Jayme Coelho de Moraes 816. Pernambuco (Recife), Ducke & Lima 18.
Brazil South America|