File:Picture2 Strychnos colubrina L. Fruiting.jpg

English: Large, climbing shrubs ,tendrils simple or bi-fid, leaves 3.5-7x1.5-3.5 cm, elliptical-ovate,acute,base cuneate or obtuse rounded 3-nerved ,coriaceous.Flowers in cymes. Coralla tube and lobes almost equal in length,the throat with woolly tomentum.Ovary and Style hirsute. 2.5-3 mm across. Creamy white in 2-3 cm long.Cymes axillary and on old wood.Berries 1-1.8 cm across, globose, orange-yellow with crustaceous pericarp; Seeds 1-3,0.6-1.2 cm diameter, circular flat. Flowering and Fruiting in May to August. Fig-1

Distribution:

    Rare in the moist shades along ravines. While this taxon is known to occur in Western Peninsular India covering parts of Karnataka and Kerala, it is so far recorded only at Veligonda hills of Nellore district in the entire Eastern Peninsular India. It was first collected by Ramaswamy in 1906(FPM l.c) from Veligonda and again it could be recovered in “Flora of Nellore District, Andhra Pradesh”.[1]The existence of the plant also recorded in Chittoor Distict particularly at Kambakkam hills, Ambakkam, Sadhumalammakona, Brahmadevudigundam( Mamandur).[2]  First Red list of Medicinal plants of Andhra Pradesh, India – Conservation Assessment and Management planning is reported to a Endangered Species in Andhra Pradesh, India.[3]

Medicinal importance:

      Wood is used to cure Fever. Root is anthelmintic, also useful in the treatment of Rheumatism, cutaneous disorders. Fruit is used to prevent Mania. The tribal people of Veligonda  hills used the root part of this plant for snake bite. 

References: 1. Suryanarayana B. and Sreenivasa Rao A, Flora of Nellore District Andhra Pradesh, Publishers: Gurudevprakashan, Printers: Gurudev Printers, Wadala Mahadeo, Shrirampur, Dist. Ahmednagar, Maharashtra 2002; P- 351. (Book) 2. Madhava Chetty K, Sivaji K, Tulasirao K, Flowering plants of Chittoor district Andhra Pradesh, India. Printed and Published: Students Offset Printers, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India, Third Edition : 2011; P-209. (Book)

3. Reddy K.N. and Sudhakar Reddy C., First Red list of Medicinal Plants of Andhra Pradesh, India – Conservation Assessment and Management Planning, Ethnobotanical Leaflets 2008; 12: 103-107.