Poison Bush

Common name: Poison Bush, Bushman's Poison
Botanical name: Acokanthera oppositifolia Family: Apocynaceae (Oleander family)
Synonyms: Acokanthera longiflora, Acokanthera venenata, Cestrum oppositifolium
Bushman's poison is a medium to large woody shrub whose flowers have a fantastic fragrance. The common name derives from the fact that the poisonous sap has been used by bushmen to make poison-arrows. It is a large shrub or a small tree up to 3.5 m height, it can reach occasionally 6 m, it occurs all over eastern and central Africa and also some scattered places in the west. In India it is grown as an ornamental shrub, and produces long branches covered with clusters of fragrant white flowers. Leaves are dark green, thick, stiff, pointed, elliptic-lancelike. Flowers are small with 5 white petals. The slender, long flower tube is greenish, sometimes with a pinkish tinge. The fragrance from blooming shrub can easily be enjoyed 50 meters away.