Tabernaemontana

Jongkind, Carel C. H. & Lachenaud, Olivier, 2022, Novelties in African Apocynaceae, Candollea 77 (1), pp. 17-51 : 40-42

Tabernaemontana

Tabernaemontana is a pantropical genus of more than 120 species of trees, shrubs and lianas, and belongs to tribe Tabernaemontaneae , subtribe Tabernaemontaninae ( ENDRESS et al., 2018) . The genus is closely related to Voacanga , both having in common a dichotomous branching pattern, petioles connate at base into a short ochrea, corolla lobes contorted to the left,

the single seed.

[A–E: Breteler 6558; F: Breteler et al. 15421; G, H: Wieringa et al. 6262] [Drawing: A. Fernandez]

absence of a corona, anthers included or with only the very tip exserted and tailed at base, fleshy fruits with two usually separate carpels, and arillate seeds. The two genera differ by their corolla lobes which are inflexed in bud in Tabernaemontana vs. not inflexed in Voacanga , the pistil head which is free from the anthers in Tabernaemontana vs. coherent with the anthers (and therefore shed with the corolla) in Voacanga , and the calyx which is persistent in Tabernaemontana and caducous in Voacanga .

The Old World species of Tabernaemontana were revised by LEEUWENBERG (1991), who recognised 18 species in continental Africa. A new West African species, previously misidentified as T. psorocarpa (Pierre ex Stapf) Pichon , is described here.