[4][5] It grows as an evergreen shrub or small tree up to 6 metres (20 ft) tall.

Its fragrant flowers feature a white tinged pink corolla.

Acokanthera oblongifolia is used in local African medicinal treatments for snakebites, itches and internal worms.

[6] The species is native to Mozambique and South Africa.

[2][6] It was first described in 1844 by Christian Ferdinand Friedrich Hochstetter as Carissa oblongifolia,[7][8] reassigned in 1876 to the genus, Acokanthera, by George Bentham and Joseph Hooker,[9] but not validly, and finally, in 1895, validly published by Benjamin Daydon Jackson as Acokanthera oblongifolia.