Plants shrubs or small trees; latex white. Leaves alternate. Inflorescences terminal, few-flowered cymes. Corollas funnel-shaped, lobes overlapping to the left in bud. Fruits drupes pear-shaped to subspheroid, exocarp black, mesocarp fleshy, seeds encosed in a hard (stony) endocarp, not compressed.
Cascabela includes 5 species, all native to Mexico, Central, and South America. In the Flora of Somalia, it is included in Thevetia but Cárdenas and Ochoterena argued effectively for treating the two as separate genera. The description above differs from that in the Flora of Somalia by the inclusion of some information that Cárdenas and Ochoterena showed distinguish Cascabela from Thevetia.
Note: GBIF records include introduced and cultivated plants. Consequently, the distribution shown often differs from statements about a taxon's native distribution.
Alvarado-Cárdenas. L.O and Helga Ochoterena (2007) A phylogenetic analysis of the Cascabela-Thevetia species complex (Plumerieae, Apocynaceae) based on morphology. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 94(2), 298-323, (27 July 2007). https://doi.org/10.3417/0026-6493(2007)94[298:APAOTC]2.0.CO;2
Thulin, M. (2006) Thevetia in Flora of Somali 3: 127-128