Apocynaceae is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison. Members of the family are native to the European, Asian, African, Australian, and American tropics or subtropics, with some temperate members. The former family Asclepiadaceae is considered a subfamily of Apocynaceae and contains 348 genera. A list of Apocynaceae genera may be found here.
Tabernanthe iboga (iboga) is an evergreen rainforest shrub native to Central Africa. A member of the Apocynaceae family indigenous to Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Republic of Congo, it is cultivated across Central Africa for its medicinal and other effects.
Tabernanthe is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1888. It is native to tropical central Africa.
Cercidiphyllum is a genus containing two species of plants, both commonly called katsura. They are the sole members of the monotypic family Cercidiphyllaceae. The genus is native to Japan and China and unrelated to Cercis (redbuds).
Populus nigra, the black poplar, is a species of cottonwood poplar, the type species of section Aigeiros of the genus Populus, native to Europe, southwest and central Asia, and northwest Africa.
Myrica is a genus of about 35–50 species of small trees and shrubs in the family Myricaceae, order Fagales. The genus has a wide distribution, including Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America, and missing only from Antarctica and Oceania. Some botanists split the genus into two genera on the basis of the catkin and fruit structure, restricting Myrica to a few species, and treating the others in Morella.
Tabernaemontana is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae. It has a pan-tropical distribution, found in Asia, Africa, Australia, North America, South America, and a wide assortment of oceanic islands. These plants are evergreen shrubs and small trees growing to 1–15 m tall. The leaves are opposite, 3–25 cm long, with milky sap; hence it is one of the diverse plant genera commonly called "milkwood". The flowers are fragrant, white, 1–5 cm in diameter.
An oneirogen, from the Greek ὄνειρος óneiros meaning "dream" and gen "to create", is a substance or other stimulus which produces or enhances dreamlike states of consciousness. This is characterized by an immersive dream state similar to REM sleep, which can range from realistic to alien or abstract.
Ibogaine is an psychoactive indole alkaloid obtained either by extraction from plants in the family Apocynaceae such as Tabernanthe iboga, Voacanga africana, and Tabernaemontana undulata or by semi-synthesis from the precursor compound voacangine, another plant alkaloid. The total synthesis of ibogaine was described in 1956. Structural elucidation by X-ray crystallography was completed in 1960.
Salvadora persica or the toothbrush tree is a small evergreen tree native to the Middle East, Africa and India. Its sticks are traditionally used as a natural toothbrush called miswak and are mentioned by the World Health Organization for oral hygiene use.
Voacanga africana is a small tree native to tropical Africa belonging to the family Apocynaceae that grows to 6 m (20 ft) in height and bears leaves that are up to 30 cm (12 in) in length. The yellow or white flowers are succeeded by paired, follicular, dehiscent fruit with a mottled green exocarp and a pulpy, yellow mesocarp surrounding the seeds. The plant contains alkaloids acting as CNS depressants and hypotensives
Vachellia seyal, the red acacia, known also as the shittah tree, is a thorny, 6– to 10-m-high tree with a pale greenish or reddish bark. At the base of the 3–10 cm (1.2–3.9 in) feathery leaves, two straight, light grey thorns grow to 7–20 cm (2.8–7.9 in) long. The blossoms are displayed in round, bright yellow clusters about 1.5 cm (0.59 in) diameter.
Bombax buonopozense, commonly known as the Gold Coast bombax or red-flowered silk cotton tree, is a tree in the mallow family. It is also known in the Dagbani language as Vabga.
Scaphopetalum is a genus previously classified under the plant family Sterculiaceae. Currently, under the APG IV system the genus is placed under the subfamily Byttnerioideae of the family Malvaceae sensu lato. The distribution of the genus is restricted to the rain forests of Africa. In total 26 taxa have been described, 21 have been recognized, two invalid and one nomen nudus.
Tricalysia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. The genus is found in tropical and southern Africa and on the islands in the Western Indian Ocean.
Tabernaemontana undulata, the becchete or bëcchëte is a plant species in the family Apocynaceae. It occurs in the Amazon rainforest.
Cercidiphyllum magnificum, known as the large-leaf katsura or magnificent katsura tree, is a species of flowering tree in the family Cercidiphyllaceae native to Honshu, Japan. It is sometimes called caramel tree for the light, sweet smell it emits during leaf fall, sometimes compared to cotton candy (candyfloss) or "freshly baked biscuits and bread". It is grown as an ornamental tree for its heart shaped leaves that in autumn turn a mixture of bright yellow, pink and orange-red.
Mostuea is one of only three genera of flowering plants belonging to the small family Gelsemiaceae. Mostuea and Gelsemium were formerly placed in the family Loganiaceae, while Pteleocarpa was placed variously in the families Icacinaceae, Cardiopteridaceae, Boraginaceae, and others, before the description of the Gelsemiaceae was altered formally to accommodate it in 2014. Mostuea is native to Africa and South America. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the roots of certain Mostuea species are used as ritual aphrodisiacs and entheogens in West Tropical Africa.
Marie-Théophile Griffon du Bellay was a French physician, naval surgeon, explorer and ethnobotanist.
Cola verticillata is a species of tree in the genus Cola, of the family Malvaceae, native to the forests of tropical Africa. Common names include owe cola, slippery cola and mucilage cola. It was first described by the Danish botanist Peter Thonning as Sterculia verticillata, and was given its current name of Cola verticillata by the Austrian botanist Otto Stapf and the French botanist Auguste Chevalier.
