Example ⟳ +
An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Strophanthus sarmentosus; photograph (c) Zac Peterson, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Zac Peterson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2025-02-26

Strophanthus sarmentosus DC.

Arrow-poison; Poison arrowvine; Spider-tresses; Strophanthus

Apocynaceae · Benin, Burkina +22

Add one to my plants
Sow seed
Strophanthus sarmentosus, photograph (c) Zac Peterson, some rights reserved (CC BY)Strophanthus sarmentosus, photograph (c) Zac Peterson, some rights reserved (CC BY)Strophanthus sarmentosus, photograph (c) Zac Peterson, some rights reserved (CC BY)Strophanthus sarmentosus, photograph (c) Zac Peterson, some rights reserved (CC BY)Strophanthus sarmentosus, photograph (c) Zac Peterson, some rights reserved (CC BY)Strophanthus sarmentosus, photograph (c) Zac Peterson, some rights reserved (CC BY) 29 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
13.3°C
Record low 9.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
36°C
Mar at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,151mm
7 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
27–41DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet winters: the rain comes June to September (the habitat's months, not shifted), read as a winter growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Strophanthus sarmentosus grows as either a deciduous shrub or as a liana up to 40 metres (130 ft) long, with a stem diameter up to 15 centimetres (6 in). Its fragrant flowers feature a white to purple corolla, red or purple-streaked on the inside. Strophanthus sarmentosus is native from west and central tropical Africa to Uganda and Angola. Vernacular names for the plant include spider tresses and poison arrow vine. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Strophanthus sarmentosus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (830 mm of 1,162 mm) falls in June to September, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 25.4 °C against a yearly mean of 26.7 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere. The habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

1,162 mm in the median year at the habitat, 830 mm of it June to September. Wettest month August at 256 mm, driest month January at 1 mm; 3 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 854 mm to 1,812 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,151 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,162 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 41 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 13.3 °C, the absolute minimum 9.9 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 40.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 19.8 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 18.2 °C to 23.6 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 35.8 °C in March (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 43 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +10 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Strophanthus sarmentosus through the yearWarmest month March, mean daily high 36 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 19.8 °C; 1,162 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.0°10°20°30°40°50°40.8° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER9.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 27–41RH 43–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 300 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C33 / 28–3535 / 29–3736 / 29–3934 / 29–3932 / 29–3730 / 28–3429 / 27–3128 / 27–3029 / 28–3030 / 29–3332 / 29–3533 / 29–34
Night °C20 / 18–2421 / 20–2523 / 21–2524 / 21–2624 / 22–2623 / 22–2522 / 21–2522 / 21–2522 / 21–2523 / 21–2522 / 20–2520 / 19–24
Rain mm1 / 0–124 / 0–3120 / 0–8674 / 0–130126 / 3–183165 / 74–263200 / 122–385256 / 69–443209 / 143–36896 / 43–2079 / 1–472 / 0–17
DLI36 / 34–3939 / 35–4241 / 34–4440 / 33–4637 / 30–4532 / 26–4028 / 25–3427 / 24–3130 / 26–3434 / 29–3936 / 31–3934 / 31–37
RH %43 / 34–6346 / 32–6351 / 37–6458 / 47–6663 / 53–6865 / 59–6966 / 63–7068 / 65–7067 / 65–7064 / 58–6956 / 43–6648 / 36–65
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 300 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (485 records in those cells; 2 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1587:3491 (10.625, -5.425). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 9.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 13.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 40.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 300 distinct grid cells holding 485 of the 487 in-range records (2 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1587:3491 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 10.50_-5.625, lapse-corrected +10 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 376 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBenin, Burkina, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Cabinda, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Zaïre, Uganda, Angola · introduced: China South-Central · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker6.657, 2.137 · in the densest population, 451 records (53% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub or liana” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 849 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 485 of them in the land cells it reads, of 487 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 755 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 15 km away. 8 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 362 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 849 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Strophanthus sarmentosus, photograph 1did not loadStrophanthus sarmentosus, photograph 2did not loadStrophanthus sarmentosus, photograph 3did not loadStrophanthus sarmentosus, photograph 4did not loadStrophanthus sarmentosus, photograph 5did not loadStrophanthus sarmentosus, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Zac Peterson, some rights reserved (CC BY) (6).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Chlorophytum macrophyllum Chlorophytum macrophyllum Asparagaceae Photo: Public domain, DaderotAnnona senegalensis Annona senegalensis Wild custard-apple Photo: CC BY-SA, alanbedfordshawErythrina senegalensis Erythrina senegalensis Senegal coraltree Photo: CC0, author not statedNauclea latifolia Nauclea latifolia African peach Photo: CC BY, martin ingemanssonCelosia argentea Celosia argentea Cockscomb Photo: CC BY, angryphycoBorassus aethiopum Borassus aethiopum Rhun Palm Photo: CC BY, Philippe Hornus

Other Strophanthus 13 in the reference

Strophanthus amboensis Strophanthus amboensis Elephant-Vine Photo: CC0, author not statedStrophanthus boivinii Strophanthus boivinii Wood-shaving-flower Photo: CC BY-SA, Mijoro RakotoarinivoStrophanthus caudatus Strophanthus caudatus Apocynaceae Photo: CC BY, Samuel LeeStrophanthus courmontii Strophanthus courmontii Tailless tail-flower Photo: CC BY, i_c_riddellStrophanthus divaricatus Strophanthus divaricatus Goat-horns Photo: CC BY, 林正文Strophanthus gratus Strophanthus gratus Ouabain Photo: CC0, author not statedStrophanthus hispidus Strophanthus hispidus Brown strophanthus Photo: CC BY, abottoStrophanthus kombe Strophanthus kombe Kombe arrow poison Photo: CC BY, i_c_riddellStrophanthus petersianus Strophanthus petersianus Corky-Stemmed Poisonroot Photo: CC0, author not statedStrophanthus preussii Strophanthus preussii Preuss' strophanthus Photo: CC BY, Philippe HornusStrophanthus speciosus Strophanthus speciosus Forest poisonrope Photo: CC BY, Shaun Swanepoel Strophanthus wallichii Apocynaceae all 14 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Strophanthus laurifolius; Strophanthus ogovensis; Strophanthus paroissei; Strophanthus pendulus; Strophanthus punctifer and 3 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Apocynaceae
Described by
DC.
Native to
Benin, Burkina, The Gambia +21
Wild records
849 in range · 755 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 14 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (13 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 10.50_-5.625, lapse-corrected +10 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 80 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…