Apocynaceae
Shrubs, lianes or trees, rarely herbs, usually with milky latex, often poisonous. Lvs opposite or verticillate, rarely alternate, exstipulate, simple, entire. Infl. various, usually cymose, sometimes fls solitary. Fls actinomorphic, ⚥, 5-merous. Calyx deeply lobed, often glandular inside; lobes imbricate. Corolla gamopetalous; lobes convolute and twisted in bud, oblique. Stamens (4)-5, inserted in tube or at mouth; filaments usually free, rarely united; anthers free or united round stigma, often sagittate. Pollen grains not adherent. Disc usually present. Ovary superior; carpels 2, often free and united by single style, 1-locular with 2 parietal placentas or 2-locular with a septum and placentas adnate to it. Ovules 2 or more. Fr. entire or composed of 2 separate carpels, baccate, drupaceous or follicular. Seeds mostly winged or with a coma, endospermic.
Key
130-180 genera, 1500-2000 spp., mainly tropical and subtropical.
A number of genera in addition to the 3 described below are cultivated in N.Z. for ornamental purposes. The most common of these are the lianoid Mandevilla Lindley and Trachelospermum Lemaire, and the very poisonous upright shrubby Acokanthera Don.
