''Strychnos camptoneura'' is a species of

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

in the

Loganiaceae The Loganiaceae are a family of flowering plants classified in order Gentianales. The family includes up to 13 genera, distributed around the world's tropics. There are not any great morphological characteristics to distinguish these taxa from ot ...

family. It is native to

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

, the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...

, the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, the

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

and

Zaire Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...

Description

It is a woody climbing plant reaching 45 meters in height but totaling up to 120 meters in length and 2-25 centimeters in diameter. Its bark is dark brown with large

lenticel A lenticel is a porous tissue consisting of cells with large intercellular spaces in the periderm of the secondarily thickened organs and the Bark (botany), bark of woody stems and roots of gymnosperms and dicotyledonous flowering plants. It func ...

s. Its hard wood is yellow to orange-brown. Its branches are small, hairless, and lack lenticels. Its

tendril In botany, a tendril is a specialized Plant stem, stem, leaf or Petiole (botany), petiole with a thread-like shape used by climbing plants for support and attachment, as well as cellular invasion by parasitic plants such as ''Cuscuta''. There ar ...

s occur in groups of 1-3 pairs. Its hairless petioles are 7-17 millimeters long. Its hairless, slightly leathery to leathery, elliptical to oval leaves are 6-31 X 3-12 centimeters with pointed to tapering tips and wedge-shaped or rounded bases. The upper surface of the leaves are shiny. The basal pair of secondary veins in the leaf are larger than the others. Its

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

s have 5 flowers in axillary, or sometimes terminal positions. The flowers are on hairless, green

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branch ...

attached to hairless, green peduncles. Its pale green, rounded, hairless

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s are, 2–3.5 millimeters long and fused at their base. Its white to yellow corollas are 5-lobed. The triangular to oval lobes are 4-6 by 1.7-3 millimeters with pointed tips. The base of the corollas are 4-6 millimeter long tubes. The outer surfaces of the corollas are hairless and the inner surfaces have fine hairs at their tips. Its

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

are attached at the throat of the corolla and have hairless filaments and narrow, oblong anthers that are 2.2-3 by 0.6-0.7 millimeters. Its hairless

carpels Gynoecium (; ; : gynoecia) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ...

are 8-9 millimeters long. Its oval

ovaries The ovary () is a gonad in the female reproductive system that produces ova; when released, an ovum travels through the fallopian tube/oviduct into the uterus. There is an ovary on the left and the right side of the body. The ovaries are endocr ...

are 3-4 x 2-2.5 millimeters with two compartments. Each compartment has more than 50

ovule In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts: the ''integument'', forming its outer layer, the ''nucellus'' (or remnant of the sporangium, megasporangium), ...

s. Its hard, elliptical to oval, yellow fruit are 6.5-20 by 6-13.5 centimeters with pointed or rounded tips. The fruit have two compartments each containing orange pulp and 2-112 seeds. The hairless flattened, convex, oval to oblong seeds are 25-50 by 20-40 by 3-6 millimeters. The seeds have irregularly shaped wings that are 1-6 millimeter wide.

Habitat and distribution

It has been observed growing in rain forests at elevations of 0 to 700 meters.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15349097 camptoneura Species described in 1905 Flora of Cameroon Flora of the Central African Republic Flora of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Flora of Gabon Flora of Ivory Coast Flora of Liberia Flora of Nigeria Flora of the Republic of the Congo Taxa named by Walter Carl Otto Busse