Astianthus viminalis

The following description is excerpted from one that appeared in Flora Neotropica.

Trees or shrubs, 2-20m tall. Leaves in whorls of 3, simple, linear, 6–30 cm long and 0.3-1.4 cm wide; midrib prominent; secondaries numerous, strongly ascending. Inflorescences terminal, paniculate, the lateral branches in whorls of 3. Calyx campanulate, 5-dentate, the teeth 1-3mm long. Corolla yellow, 4-5.5 cm long, tubular to infundibuliform, base of corolla narrowly tubular. Stamens didynamous. Gynoecium 2.5–3 cm long; the ovary glabrous, its base surrounded by a nectariferous disk. Fruit fusiform, terete, glabrous, 3–8 cm long; the septum perpendicular to a false septum, the combined structure cruciform in cross section. Seeds small, borne perpendicular to the septum and parallel to the false septum, the seed body sharply demarcated from the wing.

Where Astianthus approaches its largest size, useful lumber can be produced from it, but it is rarely harvested by lumberjacks. Medicinal value has been alleged for Astianthus, but no verifiable evidence of efficacy has been observed. Isolated compounds and crude extracts from Astianthus have failed to show any antimicrobial activity. They also showed no cytotoxicity for tumor cells.

The pentacyclic triterpenoids ursolic acid and oleanolic acid have been extracted from Astianthus. So have cinnamic acid, p-methoxycinnamic acid, and stigmasterol. A chloroform-ethanol gradient elution High-performance liquid chromatography system was used to extract the iridoid glycosides campenoside and 5-hydroxycampenoside.