102 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX. 



No. IX.— THE STRYCHNINE TREE. 



The Strychnine tree, Strychnos Nux-vomica, Linnaeus, grows wild in the South 

 Konkan and several other parts of India, especially in the coast districts. 

 According to Kurz and others, it is found in Burma, Assam, and Cochin- 

 China, extending as far as Northern Australia. Fliickiger and Hanbury state 

 that it is indigenous to most parts of India, and Dr. Wellington Cray is of 

 opinion that it is one of the indigenous species. Sir Emmerson Tennent 

 remarks that it is abundant in the prodigious forests of Ceylon, and says that 

 it grows in great luxuriance in the vicinity of ruined tanks. He also states 

 that, '* Among the Malabar immigrants there is a belief that the seeds of the 

 goda-kuduru (Strychnos Nux-vomica), if habitually taken, will act as a prophylac- 

 tic against the venom of the cobra-de-capello (Naia tripudians) ; and adds that 

 he has been assured that " the coolies coming from the coast of India accustom 

 themselves to eat a single seed per day in order to acquire the desired protection 

 from the effects of the serpent's bite." From Tennent's remark, it appears 

 that the drug as a medicine is of modern introduction in Ceylon, and that the 

 Sinhalese seem to have learnt its uses from Indian coolies and other immigrants. 

 Fliickiger and Hanbury's statement and Dr. Wellington Gray's opinion, as well 

 as Tennent's remark, go against the suggestion that the plant was introduced 

 from Ceylon. The island of Ceylon is so very close to India that the Ceylon 

 flora is, in many respects, very nearly allied to that of the southern coast of 

 India. It is a well-known fact that there is a large number of plants which are 

 indigenous both to India and Ceylon, and it seems to me the strychnine tree 

 is one of them. 



The strychnine plant is a moderate-sized tree. Its stem is usually short, 

 thick, and often crooked. It bears small greenish-white tubular flowers arranged 

 in terminal corymbs. In Western India, and all along the coast, the tree begins 

 to flower in March and April, and in places where it flowers late it continues to 

 do so till the beginning of the rains, or sometimes even later. In Burma, 

 according to Kurz, it flowers in April and May, and that is obviously due 

 to the Burmese climate. The fruit is an indehiscent berry of the size and 

 shape of a small orange, and, when ripe, is of a deep orange-yellow colour. 

 It is filled with a very bitter, gelatinous, white pulp, in which the seeds are 

 vertically placed in an irregular manner. According to Brandis the pulp is 

 orange-coloured. W. R. Dunstan says " the pulp when fresh has a very bitter 

 taste, and is white, but on drying becomes dark brown." It seems the colour 

 of the pulp changes according to the age of the fruit and the locality in which 

 the plant grows. The seeds are of a light greyish hue and have a satiny or 

 glistening appearance. They are flat, rounded, and small, a little less than an 

 inch in diameter, by about a quarter of an inch in thickness. They are 

 extremely compact and horny, and have a very bitter taste. 



Note.-*- This letter appeared in the Times of India on 5th May, 1894. 



