[2][3] They form a group of perennial herbs, twining shrubs, lianas or rarely trees but notably also contain a significant number of leafless stem succulents.

The florally-advanced tribe Stapelieae within this family contains several relatively familiar stem succulent genera, such as Orbea, Huernia, Stapelia and Hoodia.

They are remarkable for the complex mechanisms which they have developed for pollination, independently parallel to the unrelated Orchidaceae, such as the grouping of their pollen into pollinia.

Additionally, the color, appearance and texture of the flowers often is thought to resemble decaying flesh or raw meat to further entice pollination by flies.

Gilbert Thomas Burnett in 1835 is considered to be the first botanist to recognize a primary division of the family Apocynaceae using the name Asclepiadeae,[5] an ending now used for tribes rather than subfamilies.