The title compound, C₃₂H₄₃NO₄·CH₄O·H₂O, has a nearly planar cyano-enone A ring in an otherwise normal oleanane triterpenoid. Rings A, B and C are non-chairs, but rings D and E adopt essentially cyclo­hexane chair conformations. The structure clearly establishes the C-D-E ring stereochemistry as trans-syn-cis, as predicted from a nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) NMR measurement.