Schumanniophyton

Schumanniophyton is a genus of three species of small tree native to west Africa and belonging to the family Rubiaceae. It contains the following species and varieties:

  • Schumanniophyton hirsutum (Hiern) R.D.Good, native from W. Central Tropical Africa to N. Angola.
  • Schumanniophyton magnificum (K.Schum.) Harms Forest shrub or small tree, 12-16 ft. high, having soft-wooded stems bearing very large leaves. Flowers white or yellow, in a dense cluster subtended by broad bracts and borne at ends of shoots opposite a single leaf and just above a pair of leaves. Native from Nigeria to N. Angola.
  • Schumanniophyton magnificum var. klaineanum (Perre ex A.Chev.) N.Hallé, native to Gabon.
  • Schumanniophyton magnificum var. trimerum (R.D.Good) N.Hallé, native to W. Central Tropical Africa.
  • Schumanniophyton problematicum, (A.Chev.) Aubrev. Forest tree 20-40 ft. high, having large deciduous leaves grouped in threes at the ends of the branches. Flowers yellowish-white, fragrant. Native from Liberia to Ghana.

Schumanniophyton
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Rubiaceae
Tribe: Gardenieae
Genus: Schumanniophyton

Taxonomy

The genus was described by Hermann Harms and published in Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien by Adolf Engler and Karl Anton Eugen Prantl 1: 313 in the year 1897.[1] It is named in honour of German botanist Karl Moritz Schumann (17 June 1851 in Görlitz – 22 March 1904 in Berlin) who served as curator of the Botanisches Museum in Berlin-Dahlem from 1880 until 1894 and also as the first chairman of the Deutsche Kakteen-Gesellschaft (German Cactus Society) which he founded on November 6, 1892.

Uses in traditional medicine

S. magnificum: The bark decoction is used as an enema to treat dysentery and also as a lotion after circumcision having either antiseptic or analgesic properties. The juice of the fresh leaves and extracts prepared from the stem are used in the treatment of snakebite.[2]

Possible entheogen

In a paper on the genus Mostuea (Gelsemiaceae) French botanist, taxonomist and explorer Auguste Chevalier (1873–1956) quotes the Catholic priest and renowned authority on Gabonese language and culture, Father André Raponda-Walker (1871–1968) as placing an unnamed Gabonese species of Schumanniophyton in the same class of sleep-dispelling, aphrodisiac and hallucinogenic plants as Tabernanthe iboga (Apocynaceae) and Mostuea batesii (syn. M. stimulans). The passage runs as follows:

"This root" [that of Mostuea batesii] (writes Father Walker) "is considered to possess an action comparable to those of Tabernanthe iboga and Schumanniophyton. It is a potent aphrodisiac and also a stimulant. During nights set aside for dancing,the Blacks chew the roots, whole or grated, to drive away sleep. But the majority consume them during their dances - either on their own or mixed with Iboga - for the sexual excitement which they cause. Excessive use of this drug can lead to cerebral troubles". [translated from the French of Auguste Chevalier] [3]

Chemistry

Analyses of Schumanniophyton magnificum have yielded a variety of chromone alkaloids, including schummaniophytine, isoschummaniophytine, N-methyl schummaniophytine, schumaginine, and schumannificine, as well as the related bases trigonelline, rohitukine, and the chromone noreugenin. The n-butanol extract of the root bark of the Cameroonian species has also been shown to contain new chromone glycosides and schummaniofioside A and B.[2]

References
  1. "Schumanniophyton". Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden.
  2. Routledge Handbook of African Medicinal Plants, Iwu, Maurice M., second edition, pub. CRC Press (Taylor and Francis group) 2014, https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.1201/b16292-4#sec3_152 Retrieved at 11.25 a.m.on 12/10/20
  3. Chevalier, A., 1947, Les Mostuea africains et leurs propriétés stimulantes, Revue de Botanique Appliqué 27, pps. 104-109.


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