Native to West Africa. Flowers are white or yellow. Seeds are numberous, dark brown and ellipsoid in shape and embedded in pulp. Cymes 6-25 cm, usually many flowered. Calyx 0.7-1.9 cm, lobes broadly ovate to oblong.
Follicles obliquely subglobose, with pale green spots.
Closely related to both Tabernanthe and Tabernaemontana genuses. The latex is used as a rubber adulterant. This plant is used by the Diola of Africa against infectious diseases. It has also been reported to have been used to treat mental disorders and as an analgesic. West African shamans are said to ingest the rootbark as a cerebral stimulant and the seeds for visionary purposes.