''Strophanthus preussii'', the Preuss' strophanthus, is a plant in the dogbane family

Apocynaceae Apocynaceae (, from '' Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison. Notable mem ...

Description

''Strophanthus preussii'' grows as an evergreen

liana A liana is a long-Plant stem, stemmed Woody plant, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the Canopy (biology), canopy in search of direct sunlight. T ...

up to long or a shrub up to tall, with a stem diameter up to . Its fragrant flowers feature a white to orange corolla, red-striped or spotted on the inside. The corollas have very long tails up to long. Other vernacular names for the plant include "spider tresses" and "poison arrow vine".

Distribution and habitat

''Strophanthus preussii'' is native to a wide area of tropical Africa, from

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

in the west, east to

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

and south to

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

. Its habitat is forested areas from sea level to altitude.

Conservation

''Strophanthus preussii'' has been assessed as

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

. The species is broadly distributed and is not currently facing any major threats.

Uses

Traditional medicinal uses of ''Strophanthus preussii'' include treatment of gonorrhoea and healing of sores. The plant has also been used as arrow poison.

Gallery

File:Strophanthus preussii 135-8250.jpg, Coloured plate from Curtis's Botanical Magazine 1909 File:Strophanthus preussii (70150)a.jpg File:Corkscrew Flower (Strophanthus preussii) 2.jpg File:Corkscrew Flower (Strophanthus preussii).jpg File:Kew Gardens - London - September 2008 (2955748916).jpg

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13955253 preussii Plants used in traditional African medicine Flora of West Tropical Africa Flora of West-Central Tropical Africa Flora of East Tropical Africa Flora of Angola Plants described in 1892 Taxa named by Adolf Engler