''Tabernaemontana dichotoma'', commonly known as Eve's apple,
[ is a plant in the dogbane family ]Apocynaceae
Apocynaceae (from ''Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison Members of the ...
. The specific epithet
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
refers to the species' dichotomous
A dichotomy is a partition of a whole (or a set) into two parts (subsets). In other words, this couple of parts must be
* jointly exhaustive: everything must belong to one part or the other, and
* mutually exclusive: nothing can belong simultan ...
branches.[
]
Description
''Tabernaemontana dichotoma'' grows as a shrub or tree, measuring from tall, rarely to . The trunk measures up in diameter.[ The plant's latex, fruit and seeds are all poisonous.
]
Distribution and habitat
''Tabernaemontana dichotoma'' is native to Sri Lanka.[ It occurs at altitudes to around .][
]
References
dichotoma
Flora of Sri Lanka
Plants described in 1829
Poisonous plants
{{Apocynaceae-stub