Distribution
Species in this family are distributed mainly in tropical regions:
- In the rainforests and swamps of Indomalaya: small to very tall evergreen trees up to 80 m tall, often with buttress roots, such as Alstonia and Dyera
- In northern Australia: small evergreen trees such as Alstonia, Alyxia, Cerbera and Ochrosia
- In deciduous forests of Africa and India: smaller trees such as Carissa, Wrightia and Holarrhena
- In tropical America, India, Myanmar and Malaya: evergreen trees and shrubs, such as Rauvolfia, Tabernaemontana and Acokanthera
- In Central America: Plumeria, or the frangipani, with its waxy white or pink flowers and a sweet scent
- In South America, Africa and Madagascar: many lianas, such as Landolphia
- In the Mediterranean region: Nerium, with the well-known oleander or be-still tree (Nerium oleander)
- The only genera found in temperate Europe away from the Mediterranean are Vinca (Apocynoideae) and Vincetoxicum (Asclepiadoideae).
- In North America: Apocynum, dogbane or Indian hemp, including Apocynum cannabinum, a traditional source of fiber
- In continental southern Africa (Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe) and Madagascar, except for the humid evergreen forest of the eastern side of Madagascar, and never above 2000 m for the entire island: Pachypodium
Read more about this topic: Apocynaceae
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