|
Pancratium tenuifolium
Life
> eukaryotes >
Archaeoplastida >
Chloroplastida
>
Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants)
> Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants)
> Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering
plants)
> Monocotyledons > Order:
Asparagales
> Family: Amaryllidaceae >
Genus: Pancratium
Pancratium tenuifolium
photographed in Tuli Block, Botswana, October, @ 8.00 am [photo
by Nola Price ©] |
Pancratium tenuifolium at same locality as
above [photo by Lulu Perkins ©] |
The only species of Pancratium native to southern
Africa. It is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa ranging from West Africa
through East Africa to Namibia, Botswana and South Africa, where it has been
recorded in the Kruger National Park.
The San in Botswana evidently induce visual hallucinations
by rubbing the bulb of Pancratium tenuifolium into a cut on the head. One
of the constituents of the bulb is galanthamine which is a cholinesterase
inhibitor and an analgesic (van Wyk & Gericke 2000).
Publications
-
Bjørnstad, I. 1973. A revision of the genus Pancratium
L. (Amaryllidaceae) in Africa south of the Sahara. Norwegian Journal of
Botany 29: 281-291.
-
van Wyk, B.E. & Gericke, N. 2000. People's plants. A guide to useful
plants of southern Africa. Briza Publications, Pretoria.
|
