Prestonia (plant)

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Prestonia is a genus of plants in the dogbane family Apocynaceae. First described as a genus in 1810, it currently includes 63 species of lianas.[2] They are native to Mexico, Central America, South America, and the West Indies.[2] Their flowers are tube or funnel shaped and have 5 petals, often with noticeable annular coronas.[3] Prestonia amazonica, which is often named as a hallucinogenic plant, belongs to this genus.

Description

two dry brown follicular fruits with fluffy seeds dehiscing
The follicular fruit of Prestonia mexicana in Mexico.

Prestonia is a genus of lianas, a type of woody vine. Their leaves lack glands and have intrapetiolar colleters that are arranged oppositely along the stem. As with many in Apocynaceae, their stems contain a latex that ranges from watery to milky. Their flowers occur in cymes that are usually axillary (occurring between the stem and the leaf) but are sometimes terminal (occurring at the ends of branches). They range from tube-shaped to funnel-shaped with usually 5 free coronal lobes and a characteristic annular corona. A single colleter is located at the inner base of their 5 sepals.[4][5] Their petals range in color from cream to yellow-green, sometimes with red or purple inclusions. They have nectaries located annularly alongside their apocarpous, bicarpellate gynoecium.[5][3] The fruit is a follicle that is usually smooth but is winged in some species.[3] The seeds have tufts of hair and are truncate in shape.[5]

Distribution and habitat

Species in Prestonia can be found in the neotropics of Mexico, Central America, South America, and the West Indies. They extend as far north as northeast Mexico and as far south as northern Argentina.[2][5] Colombia and Brazil have the most species with 25 and 23 known species respectively.[4] They can be found at elevations ranging from sea level to as high as 2800m.[5]

Ecology

Limited evidence has shown bees to be possible pollinators of the genus.[6][7]

In the montane rainforests of Ecuador, some members of Lepidoptera in Ithomiinae and Arctiinae have been found to engage in pharmacophagy on Prestonia amabilis. They do so in order to obtain pyrrolizidine alkaloids that can be used as a chemical defense against predators and as precursor chemicals to male pheremones.[8]

Taxonomy

The genus was first described in 1810 by botanist Robert Brown who named the genus after Dr. Charles Preston.[9] It was not until the 1930's that it got significant attention from Robert E. Woodson, who is known to have treated the most species in the genus.[5] It is closely related to Artia and Parsonsia.[10][11]

Species

63 species are accepted.[2]

File:Prestonia portobellensis flowers 2024-12-13.jpg
The flowers of Prestonia portobellensis in Mexico.

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Formerly included[2]
  1. Prestonia agglutinata (Jacq.) Woodson = Echites agglutinatus Jacq.
  2. Prestonia arborescens Monach. = Hylaea arborescens (Monach.) J.F.Morales[12]
  3. Prestonia caudata Woodson = Echites puntarenensis J.F.Morales
  4. Prestonia contorta (M.Martens & Galeotti) Hemsl. = Laubertia contorta (M.Martens & Galeotti) Woodson
  5. Prestonia erecta J.F.Morales = Rhodocalyx rotundifolius Müll.Arg.
  6. Prestonia hirsuta Spreng. 1824 not Müll.Arg. 1860 = Mandevilla pavonii (A.DC.) Woodson
  7. Prestonia langlassei Standl. = Laubertia contorta (M.Martens & Galeotti) Woodson
  8. Prestonia leptoloba Monach. = Hylaea leptoloba (Monach.) J.F.Morales[12]
  9. Prestonia peruviana Spreng. = Mandevilla glandulosa (Ruiz & Pav.) Woodson
  10. Prestonia riedelii (Müll.Arg.) Markgr. = Rhodocalyx riedelii (Müll.Arg.) J.F.Morales, M.E.Endress & Liede
  11. Prestonia woodsoniana (Monach.) A.H.Gentry = Echites woodsonianus Monach.

Uses

The yellow cymose flowers of Prestonia mollis
Flowering Prestonia mollis in Ecuador.

The fresh roots, stems, and leaves of Prestonia mollis are known to be used by people in southern Ecuador (Loja and Zamora-Chinchipe provinces) to disinfect, to treat wounds, and to treat cancer.[13]

Prestonia amazonica is often named as a hallucinogenic plant however the evidence for this is contested. In the mid 1850's botanist Richard Spruce noted the species to be a possible admixture while he was studying caapi, a psychedelic drink more commonly known as ayahuasca.[14] It was the opinion of the ethnobotanist, Richard E. Schultes, that the designation of Prestonia amazonica as a hallucinogenic plant has little evidence behind it beyond Spruce's observations.[14] Thus far, only one chemical analysis has ever been performed on the species in the 1950's.[15] While it found evidence of DMT, a hallucinogenic compound, the validity of the source of the sample analyzed has been called into question.[14] No further chemical analyses have been published.

References

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  1. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Prestonia information from NPGS/GRIN". www.ars-grin.gov. Retrieved 2008-04-19.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Prestonia R.Br". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 12 July 2025.
  3. ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Morales, J. Francisco (2009-12-30). "Study in Neotropical Apocynaceae XXXIX: review of Apocynoideae and Rauvolfioideae from Honduras". Anales del Jardín Botánico de Madrid. 66 (2): 217–262. doi:10.3989/ajbm.2205. ISSN 1988-3196.
  4. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Morales, J. Francisco; Cornejo, Xavier (2019-02-05). "Two New Species of Prestonia (Apocynaceae) from Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru". Systematic Botany. 44 (1): 197–202. Bibcode:2019SysBo..44..197M. doi:10.1600/036364419X698029. ISSN 0363-6445.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Morales, J. Francisco; Endress, Mary E.; Liede-Schumann, Sigrid (2017-11-17). "Systematics of Prestonia (Apocynaceae: Apocynoids: Echiteae) 80 Years After Woodson". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 102 (3): 520–541. Bibcode:2017AnMBG.102..520M. doi:10.3417/D-17-00002A. ISSN 0026-6493.
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Galgani-Barraza, Paola; Moreno, Jorge Enrique; Lobo, Sofia; Tribaldos, Wendy; Roubik, David W.; Wcislo, William T. (2019-12-30). "Flower use by late nineteenth-century orchid bees (Eufriesea surinamensis, Hymenoptera, Apidae) nesting in the Catedral Basílica Santa María la Antigua de Panamá". Journal of Hymenoptera Research. 74: 65–81. doi:10.3897/jhr.74.39191. ISSN 1314-2607.
  7. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Moreno, Enrique; Vit, Patricia; Aguilar, Ingrid; Barth, Ortrud M. (2023). "Melissopalynology of Coffea arabica honey produced by the stingless bee Tetragonisca angustula (Latreille, 1811) from Alajuela, Costa Rica". AIMS Agriculture and Food. 8 (3): 804–831. Bibcode:2023AIMAF...8..804M. doi:10.3934/agrfood.2023043. ISSN 2471-2086.
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Brehm, Gunnar; Hartmann, Thomas; Willmott, Keith (2007-07-27). "PYRROLIZIDINE ALKALOIDS AND PHARMACOPHAGOUS LEPIDOPTERA VISITORS OF PRESTONIA AMABILIS (APOCYNACEAE) IN a MONTANE RAINFOREST IN ECUADOR1". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 94 (2): 463–473. doi:10.3417/0026-6493(2007)94[463:PAAPLV]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0026-6493.
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."On the Asclepiadeæ, a Natural Order of Plants separated from the Apocineæ of Jussieu", The Miscellaneous Botanical Works of Robert Brown, Cambridge University Press, pp. 193–248, 2015-04-02, doi:10.1017/cbo9781107775480.003, ISBN 978-1-107-77548-0, retrieved 2026-02-10{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  10. ^ Livshultz, T., D. J. Middleton, M. E. Endress, and J. K. Williams.(2007) Phylogeny of Apocynoideae and the APSA Clade (Apocynaceae S.l.). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 94, no. 2: 324–59.
  11. ^ Morales, J.F.; Endress, M.E.; Liede-Schumann, S. (2017) Sex, drugs and pupusas: Disentangling relationships in Echiteae (Apocynaceae). Taxon 66 (3): 623-644. https://doi.org/10.12705/663.7
  12. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Morales, J. Francisco (Spring 1999). "Hylaea (Apocynaceae-Apocynoideae), a New Genus from South America". Novon. 9 (1): 83–85. Bibcode:1999Novon...9...83M. doi:10.2307/3392125. JSTOR 3392125.
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Tene, Vicente; Malagón, Omar; Finzi, Paola Vita; Vidari, Giovanni; Armijos, Chabaco; Zaragoza, Tomás (2007-04-20). "An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants used in Loja and Zamora-Chinchipe, Ecuador". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 111 (1): 63–81. Bibcode:2007JEthn.111...63T. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2006.10.032. PMID 17137737.
  14. ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Schultes, Richard Evans; Raffauf, Robert F (1960-06-30). "Prestonia: An Amazon Narcotic Or Not?". Botanical Museum Leaflets, Harvard University. 19 (5): 109–122. doi:10.5962/p.168526. ISSN 0006-8098.
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hochstein, F. A.; Paradies, Anita M. (1957-11-05). "Alkaloids of Banisteria caapi and Prestonia amazonicum". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 79 (21): 5735–5736. Bibcode:1957JAChS..79.5735H. doi:10.1021/ja01578a041. ISSN 0002-7863.
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