dogbane family

American  

noun

1. the plant family Apocynaceae, characterized by shrubs, trees, and herbaceous plants having milky and often poisonous juice, simple opposite leaves, often showy flowers, and fruit usually in dry pods, and including the dogbane, oleander, periwinkle, and plumeria.

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Example Sentences

Cream′-fruit, the fruit of a creeping West African plant of the dogbane family, yielding a cream-like juice; Cream′iness.—adj.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

Vinca, ving′ka, n. a genus of woody herbaceous plants of the dogbane family, the periwinkles.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various