n :  a genus of trees or shrubs (family Apocynaceae) found in tropical Asia, Australia, and Polynesia having white funnel-shaped flowers and including several (esp. A. constricta) whose bark has been used medicinally for its antiperiodic and antipyretic properties (as in the treatment of malaria)
 
Al•ston, Charles (1683-1760), British physician and botanist. Alston was a lecturer in botany and materia medica at the University of Edinburgh. He was noted for being a staunch opponent of the Linnaean system of classification. The genus Alstonia was named in his honor in 1810.
 
 
 
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