Bantu tribes from Rwanda and Tanzania produce an arrow poison from the root bark and leaves of this species, sometimes combining it with extracts from other plants.

(see Toxalbumin) The leaves are opposite, held in a horizontal plane, ovate to elliptic in shape with a characteristic drip-tip, and glossy dark green above.

The genus Strychnos is represented by some 300 species of lianes, shrubs and small trees, fairly evenly divided among Asia, America, and Africa.

[3] Strychnos usambarensis has been thoroughly investigated for potential pharmacological drugs and some 60 indole alkaloids have been isolated, mostly dimeric terpenoid in structure.

Among these are the retuline class alkaloids C-dihydrotoxiferine, C-curarine and C-calebassine and the monomeric C-fluorocurarine, which are also the active principles of calabash curare obtained from South American Strychnos spp.