Strychnos nux-vomica, Linn.
Family : Loganiaceae
Common Name : Nux-vomica tree
Telugu Name : Visha Mushti

General :

It occurs throughout Andhra Pradesh. Identified by yellowish grey to blackish grey, thin, smooth bark covered with tubercles and containing chlorophyll tissue inside, shining 5-nerved leaves. Recommended for plantations on laterite rock with clayey loam and alluvial soil.

Flowering :

The small greenish white flowers appear from March to May and continue upto August-September.

Fruiting :
The fruits ripen in the cold and hot season from December to June.
Morphology of the Fruit / Seed :
Fruit is a globose berry, 2.5 to 7.5 cms in diam., slightly rough, but shining, orange red when ripe. Seeds are discoid, about 2 cms in dia, and 2.5 cms in thickness, ash-grey or greenish grey, much compressed, concave on one side and convex on the other, bitter in taste.
Seed Collection and Storage :
The seeds are collected from about middle of December to end of April. The pulp of the fruit is washed and the seeds are dried in the sun. Seeds can be stored for one year in gunny bags.
Seed Biology :
No. of seeds per Kg.
Germination percentage
Germination period in days
No. of seedlings per Kg. of seed
635 to 650
25
60 to 70
138
Pretreatment :
Mild boiled water treatment and soaking in water for 48 hours; or keeping the seeds in cowdung slurry for 24 hours.
Nursery Technique :

Very difficult species to germinate. Seed put in the polybags in March and hay is spread over the bags in order to maintain the heat. The seeds germinate after 45 to 50 days. Growth of the seedlings is very slow and the growth of the root is very fast.