Native to the tropical regions of Southeast Asia, the leafy Ignatius bean tree is a vine that can grow up to 20 m tall. This thornless vine belongs to the Loganiaceae family, bears flowers arranged in racemes, and produces bitter, yellow, hard-shelled berries. The fruit pulp contains up to 40 rock-hard seeds, known as neurotoxic Ignatius beans. The name comes from Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Spanish Jesuit Order. Jesuits described the bean in the Philippines and brought it to Europe. In the past, the beans were used to extract strychnine.
Today, it is used as a homeopathic remedy for agitation, anger, grief, headaches, migraines, asthma, stomach problems, and menstrual cramps. The Ignatius bean is found, for example, inMastodynon®.
In folk medicine, it was historically used for stomach complaints, cramps, liver diseases, and spleen and intestinal disorders; in Chinese medicine, it is used to treat roundworms, poisoning, injuries, and childbirth.