Changes

An autopsy performed on sheep that died from poisoning, showed all the symptoms of cyanosis i.e. inflammation of stomach and intestines, blood in the lungs, liver and under the skin, and general cyanosis.

Deciduous, many-stemmed, latex-bearing shrub up to 1.5 m tall; young stems reddish brown, older stems greyish. Leaves opposite or clustered on short lateral shoots, simple and entire, almost sessile; stipules absent; blade linear to linear-spoon-shaped, up to c. 2.5 cm × 0.4 cm, base cuneate, apex rounded, pale green, glabrous. Flowers axillary, solitary or 2 together, bisexual, regular, 5-merous, fragrant; pedicel 6–15 mm long; small bract at middle; sepals lanceolate, c. 2 mm long, acuminate; corolla tube campanulate, c. 2 mm long, lobes lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, c. 6 mm long, purple, pale violet to white; corona lobes 3–4 mm long, filiform or spoon-shaped; stamens with free filaments, anthers triangular, acuminate, fused to stigmatic head, pollen carrier spoon-shaped; ovary semi-inferior, 2-celled, style columnar, conical. Fruit a pair of spreading follicles, each cylindrical, 7–10 cm × 6–9 mm, pale green to purple, many-seeded. Seeds narrowly ovoid, smooth, brown, with a coma of whitish hairs.