STRYCHNOS, in botany, the typical genus of Strychnesi. Calyx, five-parted; corolla tubular, funnel-shaped, limb spreading; stamens five, inserted into the throat of the corolla; ovary two-celled; style one; fruit, a berry with a hard rind and a pulpy sarcocarp; seeds many. Natives of Asia, America, and Australia. S. Nux Vomica, the snake wood, strych nine tree, or nux vomica tree, is a moder ate-sized evergreen, with dark gray bark and no spines; the leaves entire, strongly three to five nerved; the flowers small, greenish-white; the fruit round, like an orange in color, but smaller, with a brit tle rind, a white, gelatinous pulp, and many seeds. It is found on hills and in forests in India and Burma. The seeds, which are about the size and shape of a 25-cent piece, constitute nux vomica and contain strychnine, and it is said, a brown dye. The wood is very bitter, especially the root, which has been given in inter mittent fevers and as an antidote to the bites of venomous serpents. S. pota torum, a tree about 40 feet high, with only one seed, is the clearingnut tree of India; so called because the seeds render muddy water clear. They are used also in diseases of the eye. The fruit, which
is like a black cherry, is eaten by the natives; the wood is used for carts, agri cultural implements, and building. S. toxif era, the Guiana poison plant, is a climber, with a stem covered with long, spreading, red hairs, and five-nerved acuminate leaves. It furnishes the chief ingredient of the poison called woorali, or oorali. S. tieute, from Java, has ellip tical, acuminate, three-nerved, glabrous leaves, with simple tendrils opposite to them. It yields another deadly poison. S. ligustrina is said by Blume to furnish the genuine Lignurn colubrinum. It is given in Java in paralysis of the lower extremities and as an anthelmintic. S. pseudoquina, a Brazilian tree about 12 feet high, has a corky bark (said to be equal to cinchona as a febrifuge), and short-stalked, ovate, quintuple-nerved leaves; all parts of it are intensely bit ter except the fruit, which is eaten by children. The fruit of S. colubrina, a large Indian climbing shrub, is esteemed by the Telegus as an antidote to the bite of the cobra. The fruit of S. innoczta is eaten in Egypt.