Description: A small tree or treelet, often growing bush-like, branching near the base. Leaves are shiny, opposite, and one leaf of each pair is usually substantially larger than the other. Broken leaves produce dripping white latex, as will broken stems or cuts in the bark (like all Apocynaceae).

Reproduction: Flowers are 2-3 cm across, with 5 petals, shaped like a pinwheel, yellow, with large green, leaf-like sepals below each flower. Produced singly, and plants often just have one or a few flowers. Fruits consist of two round sections, each with a point at one end, opening to reveal an orange pulp covering the seeds. Flowers and fruits can be seen any time of the year.

Distribution: Occurs sparsely in forests from Gamboa south, mostly in more secondary or disturbed woods. Rare on Barro Colorado Island. Regularly seen growing in towns, yards, along roads on the Pacific slope, but not especially numerous.

Similar Species: The leaves are very similar to those of LK tab2ar Tabernaemontana arborea, LK2 which is a larger tree, much more common in the forest, with white flowers. See other Apocynaceae as well, but the rest do not have unequal leaf sizes.

Uses: Sometimes planted as an ornamental.

Descripción: Árbol de 3 a 5 m de alto. Tronco ramificado a baja altura o a partir de la base. Corteza exterior gris. Ramitas con lenticelas blancas. El desprendimiento de cualquier parte de la planta produce el flujo de una savia lechosa. Hojas simples y opuestas, de 3-12 x 2-5 cm, elípticas, oblongas a oblanceoladas, con ápice acuminado, bordes enteros a ondulados y base aguda. Usualmente en cada par una hoja es de mayor tamaño en comparación con la otra. Pecíolo de 0.2-0.5 cm de largo y acanalado en la parte superior. Flores amarillas con sépalos en forma de hojitas. Frutos en folículos pares y globosos, de 3-5 cm de largo y con una punta aguda, verdes, tornándose amarillentos y dehiscentes al madurar. Semillas cubiertas de una pulpa roja.

Datos Ecológicos: La especie crece a bajas y medianas elevaciones, en bosques húmedos o muy húmedos. En Panamá se encuentra en todo el país. Común y fácil de observar en senderos, caminos, carreteras o en bosques secundarios. Florece y fructifica durante todo el año, principalmente de enero a septiembre.

Especies Parecidas: A menudo se confunde con LK tab2ar Tabernaemontana arborea LK2 , pero T. arborea es un árbol de mayor tamaño que tiene flores blancas y los frutos no terminan en una punta aguda. También se puede confundir con LK stemal Stemmadenia alfaroi LK2 , pero en S. alfaroi los frutos tienen forma de cuernos de vaca.

Usos: La especie se utiliza como planta ornamental. Algunas especies de este género contienen alcaloides.

Huevo de gato, Lechugo, Venenillo Glabrous shrub or tree, to 7 m tall; sap milky, copious in all parts; stems grayish-brown, with a prominent interpetiolar ridge. Leaves opposite, the pairs sometimes unequal; petioles 3-10 mm long, (leaving a conspicuous scar); blades mostly oblanceolate, abruptly acuminate (sometimes falcate), acute to obtuse at base, 3-11(16) cm long, 1.5-4 (6) cm wide, bicolorous. Cynics of few flowers; peduncles short; pedicels to 1 cm long, with a single small bracteole attached ca midway on pedicel; flowers 5-parted; calyx lobes 1.5-3 cm long, irregular, 2 narrow and flat, 3 folded with 1 or more margins reflected; corolla pale orange, the tube 2.5-3.5 cm long, the lobes spreading, ca 5 cm wide, to 2.5-3.5 cm long, much contorted; stamens included, attached about 2 cm above base of tube, held in a tight circle by thick pubescent ribs of corolla wall; anthers ca 4 mm long, free; style equaling stamens; stigmas 2, minute. Follicles reniform, usually paired, ca 5 cm long, smooth on the outside, the apex acuminate, the very thick valves splitting open along upper side to expose fleshy orange mesocarp; seeds many, oblong to rounded, 5-10 mm long, papillate and deeply grooved. Croat 4223 11979. Mexico to northern South America. In Panama, ecologically variable; known from tropical moist forest in the Canal Zone, Bocas del Toro, San Blas, Chiriqui, Veraguas, Los Santos, Herrera, Panama, and Darien, from premontane dry forest in Los Santos, from tropical dry forest in Coclé and Panama, from premontane moist forest in the Canal Zone and Panama, from premontane wet forest in Coclé, and from tropical wet forest in Colon, Panama, and Darien. See Figs. 462 and 463.