Apocynaceae

Apocynaceae is a family of flowering plants that includes milkweeds, oleanders, periwinkles, and many tropical trees and vines. Many species produce milky latex, and some contain potent alkaloids or cardiac glycosides.

Gentianales: An order of flowering plants that includes Apocynaceae, Gentianaceae, and Rubiaceae. Apocynaceae belongs to this order alongside several families with related floral traits.
Asclepias: A genus of milkweeds native mainly to the Americas, with flowers adapted to pollinia transfer. Its species exemplify the milkweed lineage within Apocynaceae.
Vincristine: A chemotherapy drug derived from the Madagascar periwinkle alkaloid vindoline and related compounds. It demonstrates the clinical value of alkaloids produced by an Apocynaceae species.
Rubiaceae: A flowering-plant family that includes coffee, bedstraws, and many tropical trees. It is another large Gentianales family, but its flowers and stipules distinguish it from Apocynaceae.
Asclepiadoideae: A subfamily of Apocynaceae that includes milkweeds and many other plants with pollinia. This former family is now one of the largest, most distinctive groups within Apocynaceae.
Nerium: A genus of evergreen shrubs containing oleander, a widely cultivated but highly toxic plant. Oleander is a familiar ornamental member of the family.
Vinblastine: A chemotherapy drug developed from alkaloids found in Catharanthus roseus. Its discovery made the periwinkle one of the family’s best-known medicinal plants.
Convergent evolution: The independent evolution of similar traits in different evolutionary lineages. Similar milky sap and toxic chemistry occur in unrelated plant families too.
Pollinium: A coherent mass of pollen grains transferred as a unit during pollination. Pollinia characterize many milkweed relatives nested within the family.
Catharanthus roseus: A Madagascar-native flowering plant that produces the anticancer alkaloids vincristine and vinblastine. This periwinkle illustrates the family’s medicinal chemistry and horticultural importance.

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EuphorbiaceaeCompared with: Its latex-bearing members can resemble spurges despite their distinct floral and genetic traits.