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Taxonomy
Rauvolfia vomitoria Afzel.
Nomenclature
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Family: ApocynaceaeGenus: Rauvolfia
SUMMARY
Shrub or tree 0.5–20(–40) m high; trunk 1–80 cm in diameter; bark smooth, striate or fissured, light to dark grey-brown or dark brown; wood light yellowish to white; branches pale to dark brown, or grey-brown, smooth, lenticellate; branchlets in whorls of 3–5, pale to greenish brown, smooth. Leaves in whorls of 3–5; blade elliptic or narrowly elliptic, 3.4–27 cm long, 2–9 cm wide, apiculate at the apex, acumen 1–18 mm long, glabrous, with 8–17 pairs of secondary veins; petiole 6–35 mm long. Inflorescence in whorls of 1–4, dense, 15–450-flowered, puberulous in all parts; peduncle 1.5–8.6 cm long; pedicels 1–4.5 mm long. Flowers fragrant; sepals ovate, 1–2.2 mm long, 0.9–2.1 mm wide, acute at the apex; corolla hypocrateriform, greenish white to yellow; tube 5.8–10(–12) mm long, glabrous outside, puberulous inside in 3 small belts; lobes dolabriform, 1.1–2.1 mm long, 1.1–4 mm wide, glabrous; stamens included, inserted at 4.3–7(–8.6) mm above the corolla base; disk 0.7–2 mm high, cupular; pistil (3.8–)4.2–9.2 mm long; ovary of two partly fused carpels, ovoid or cylindrical; style (2–)2.4–5.2 mm long; pistil head 0.5–1.2 mm long, stigmoid apex 0.1 mm long. Fruits bright orange or red, usually 1 mericarp developing, globose, ovoid or ellipsoid, 8–14 mm long, up to 9 mm in diameter; seeds ellipsoid, 6–8 mm long.