Nerium L.
Evergreen shrubs or small trees. Sap not milky. Lvs opposite or in whorls of 3-4; stomata in pits on lower surface. Fls in terminal branched cymes, large, 5-merous. Calyx lobed almost to base. Corolla funnelform, with a corona of 5 laciniate or dentate scale-like appendages in the widely open throat; lobes spreading, twisted clockwise in bud. Stamens included, inserted near corolla throat; filaments very short; anthers connivent, with long, apical, hairy, twisted awns. Disc glands 0. Fr. a pair of long slender follicles. Seeds with apical coma of hairs.
2-3 spp., Mediterranean region to Japan. Naturalised sp. 1.
