Milky way tree

Description

Tabernaemontana litoralis (Syn. Stemmadenia litoralis) is a species of Magnoliopsida described by Carl Sigismund Kunth. Tabernaemontana litoralis belongs to the genus Tabernaemontana, and the family Apocynaceae. 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. The cultivar T. divaricata cv. 'Plena', with doubled-petaled flowers, is a popular houseplant. Some members of the genus Tabernaemontana are used as additives to some versions of the psychedelic drink ayahuasca; the genus is known to contain ibogaine (e.g. in bëcchëte, T. undulata), conolidine (present in minor concentration in T. divaricata) and voacangine (T. alba, T. arborea, T. africana). Because of presence of coronaridine and voacangine in mexican Tabernaemontana species, those plant could be used in economic production of anti-addictive alkaloids especially ibogaine and ibogamine. T. sananho preparations are used in native medicine to treat eye injuries and as an anxiolytic, and T. heterophylla is used to treat dementia in the elderly. Conolidine may be developed as a new class of pain killer. Caterpillars of the oleander hawk-moth (Daphnis nerii) have been found to feed on the pinwheelflower (T. divaricata).