Strychnos spinosa
Lam. · speciesAt a glance
Sources13 archives
Databases and archives Strychnos spinosa's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation7 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility4 043 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI18 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics26 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
NPASSNat. Product Activity & Species Sourcecompounds↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
PloiDBPloidy Databasegenome & karyotype
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Strychnos spinosa, the Natal orange, is a tree indigenous to tropical and subtropical Africa. It produces sweet-sour, yellow fruits, containing numerous hard brown seeds. Greenish-white flowers grow in dense heads at the ends of branches (Sep-Feb/Spring - summer). The fruits tend to appear only after good rains. It is related to the deadly Strychnos nux-vomica, which contains strychnine. The smooth, hard fruit are large and green, ripen to yellow colour. Inside the fruit are tightly packed seeds, which may be toxic, surrounded by a fleshy, brown, edible covering. Animals such as baboon, monkeys, bushpig, nyala and eland eat the fruit. The leaves are a popular food source for browsers such as duiker, kudu, impala, steenbok, nyala and elephant.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology6
Life cycle & reproduction7
Diet & foraging1
Habitat & environment9
Physiology & chemistry5
Compounds documented for Strychnos spinosa across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
Compound class profile5 classes
Documented compounds149 total
| Compound | Class | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| (+)-Erythrodiol | present | LOTUS | |
| (+)-Ursolic Acid | present | LOTUS | |
| (-)-Clerosterol | present | LOTUS | |
| (-)-Evofolin B | present | NPASS | |
| (-)-Sweroside | present | LOTUS | |
| (1R,2R,7S,10S,12R,13S,14R,16S,19S,20S)-19-(Furan-3-yl)-12-hydroxy-9,9,13,20-tetramethyl-4,8,15,18-tetraoxahexacyclo[11.9.0.02,7.02,10.014,16.014,20]docosane-5,11,17-trione | present | NPASS | |
| (2R,3S,4S)-3-ethenyl-4-[(E)-4-[(2S,3R,4S)-3-ethenyl-5-methoxycarbonyl-2-[(2S,3R,4S,5S,6R)-3,4,5-trihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)oxan-2-yl]oxy-3,4-dihydro-2H-pyran-4-yl]-1-oxobut-2-en-2-yl]-2-[(2S,3R,4S,5S,6R)-3,4,5-trihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)oxan-2-yl]oxy-3,4-dihydro-2H-pyran-5-carboxylic acid | present | LOTUS | |
| (2R,3S,4S,5R,6S)-2-(Hydroxymethyl)-6-(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenoxy)tetrahydro-2H-pyran-3,4,5-triol | present | LOTUS | |
| (2R,4S,5E,6R,8S)-5-ethylidene-9-methyl-3-oxa-1,9-diazapentacyclo[10.6.1.12,6.08,19.013,18]icosa-12(19),13,15,17-tetraen-4-ol | present | LOTUS | |
| (3R,4aS,5S,6S)-5-ethenyl-3-methoxy-6-[(2S,3S,4R,5S,6S)-3,4,5-trihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)oxan-2-yl]oxy-4,4a,5,6-tetrahydro-3H-pyrano[3,4-c]pyran-1-one | present | LOTUS |
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Strychnos spinosa has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
The complete instruction manual Strychnos spinosa carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
2n 443×CCDB · book-ipcn66 · CCDB · Cave1959 · CCDB · Cave1962
2n 242×CCDB · book-fedorov · CCDB · book-atlas-flowering-plants
polyploid inferred1×PloiDB · genus-scale
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type4 043 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions23 of 78 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Saint Louis, US | 89 |
| MeiseBGlocation not on record | 58 |
| Kew, GB | 58 |
| Paris, FR | 55 |
| Yaoundé, CM | 55 |
| Parc Botanique et Zoologique de Tsimbazaza (PBZT)location not on record | 32 |
| Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropicallocation not on record | 31 |
| Plocation not on record | 25 |
| Frankfurt am Main | 23 |
| WAGlocation not on record | 22 |
| Durban, ZA | 20 |
| TAFORI-LSRClocation not on record | 17 |
| EFGlocation not on record | 15 |
| Embrapa Agrobiology Diazothrophic Microbial Culture Collectionlocation not on record | 14 |
| Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique / Institut de l'environnement et de recherches agricoleslocation not on record | 14 |
| Pretoria, ZA | 12 |
| HNBlocation not on record | 12 |
| LSF/FSA/UAClocation not on record | 11 |
| Université du Lomélocation not on record | 11 |
| CJBGlocation not on record | 11 |
| Glocation not on record | 10 |
| Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznańlocation not on record | 8 |
| National Museums of Kenyalocation not on record | 8 |
| CNF-UFHBlocation not on record | 7 |
| Tampa, US | 6 |
| Leiden University Medical Centerlocation not on record | 6 |
| Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’Ivoirelocation not on record | 6 |
| Centre National de la Recherche Appliquée au Developement Rurallocation not on record | 6 |
| Uppsala, SE | 6 |
| Xiamen, CN | 4 |
| Ulocation not on record | 4 |
| Bronx, US | 4 |
| University of Stellenboschlocation not on record | 4 |
| Berlin, DE | 3 |
| LISClocation not on record | 3 |
| MAlocation not on record | 3 |
| San Jose State University, Museum of Birds and Mammalslocation not on record | 3 |
| Miami, US | 3 |
| Edward O. Wilson Biodiversity Laboratory, Gorongosa NPlocation not on record | 2 |
| University of Johannesburglocation not on record | 2 |
| Stockholm, SE | 2 |
| EAlocation not on record | 2 |
| University of Johannesburg, Department of Botany and Plant Biotechnologylocation not on record | 2 |
| LSFlocation not on record | 2 |
| Llocation not on record | 2 |
| LISUlocation not on record | 1 |
| Coimbra, PT | 1 |
| Mlocation not on record | 1 |
| Wlocation not on record | 1 |
| Ministry of Natural Resourceslocation not on record | 1 |
| Centre National de Semences Forestièreslocation not on record | 1 |
| Institute for Agricultural Research of Mozambiquelocation not on record | 1 |
| Seychelles National Herbariumlocation not on record | 1 |
| GRAlocation not on record | 1 |
| LGlocation not on record | 1 |
| Dublin, IE | 1 |
| Zlocation not on record | 1 |
| Centre National d'Application des Recherches Pharmaceutiques (CNARP)location not on record | 1 |
| Addis Ababa, ET | 1 |
| University of Hamburglocation not on record | 1 |
| FIlocation not on record | 1 |
| Elocation not on record | 1 |
| National Herbarium & Botanic Gardens of Malawilocation not on record | 1 |
| South Kensington, GB | 1 |
| UJlocation not on record | 1 |
| Moscow State Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| Kunming, CN | 1 |
| Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung: Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseumlocation not on record | 1 |
| Herbier National du Gabonlocation not on record | 1 |
| Nnamdi Azikiwe University Herbarium (NAUH)location not on record | 1 |
| Humboldt-Universität zu Berlinlocation not on record | 1 |
| Chicago, US | 1 |
| National Institute of Hygienic Scienceslocation not on record | 1 |
| University of Oxfordlocation not on record | 1 |
| Calabar, NG | 1 |
| South African Forestry Research Institutelocation not on record | 1 |
| Arusha, TZ | 1 |
| Cambridge, US | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Strychnos spinosa was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.