Rauvolfia rostrata Markgr.

Shrub or small tree 1-7 m high. Branches sparsely lenticellate; branchlets glabrous. Leaves in whorls of 3 or 4; petiole 0.3-0.5(-1) cm long, glabrous; blade papery to subcoriaceous, elliptic, 7-14.5 by 1.8-4.2 cm, 2.6-3.8(-5.2) times as long as wide, apex cuspidate, rarely acuminate, base cuneate to slightly decurrent, glabrous above and beneath; secondary veins 12-23 pairs, 0.1-0.5 mm spaced, straight to rather arcuate-ascending, forming an angle of 50-80° with the midrib, forming a submarginal vein. Inflorescence 3-9.5 cm long, lax, 5-8-flowered, glabrous; peduncle 2.3-6 by 0.1 cm, thin, delicate, glabrous; bracteoles broadly ovate, 0.6-0.8 by 0.4-0.6 mm; pedicels 0.2-0.5 cm long, glabrous. Sepals ovate or subtriangular, 1-1.4 by 0.8-1.3 mm, 1.1-1.3 times as long as wide, apex obtuse, glabrous. Corolla white, glabrous outside, villose in a belt from just around the mouth downwards to the insertion of the stamens, 4-4.5 mm long in the mature bud and forming a broadly ovoid head of 1-1.1 by 1.3-1.4 mm with obtuse apex; tube 3.7-4 mm long, 2.8-3.7 times as long as calyx, 2.7-3.1 times as long as lobes; lobes broadly and obliquely ovate to suborbicular, 1.2-1.5 by 1-1.4 mm, 1-1.2 times as long as wide, apex rounded. Stamens inserted at 3.5-3.7 mm from base, 0.9-0.95 of the length of the corolla tube; filaments 0.5 mm long; anthers 1-1.1 by 0.3 mm, 3.3-3.7 times as long as wide. Disk cup-shaped, 1.1-1.2 by 0.5-0.6 mm, 0.4-0.6 times as long as ovary, crenate. Pistil mostly glabrous; ovary syncarpous, globose, 1-1.2 mm long; style filiform, 2-2.2 mm long, broader at the apex; style head 0.8 mm long. Fruit bluish black when mature, partly syncarpous, obversely trapezoid, 10.8-13 by 14.8-20 mm, 0.65-0.75 times as long as wide, connate for 6-7 mm, 0.55 of mericarp length, with 2 acute apices, distance between apices 8.8-14.5 mm, sometimes only 1 carpel developing, glabrous. Seeds 1 in each endocarp, ovoid, acute.

It is a tropical plant.