The Celastraceae or staff-vine, bittersweet or spindle tree family is a family of mostly tropical herbs, vines, shrubs and small trees, belonging to the order Celastrales. It includes almost a hundred genera and about 1,350 species, growing in a wide variety of habitats including woodland, rain forest, grassland, coastal dunes and very dry areas. One of its genera, Parnassia, may be found in alpine and arctic climates, and 19 genera are native to Madagascar. The fruits of the family are often brightly colored drupes or capsules, and the leaves frequently leathery, sometimes toothed around the margins. The flowers are small, with four to five sepals and petals, alternating between the petals, and stamens rising from a typically consipcuous nectar disk. Members of the family are useful for medicinal extracts, insecticides, seed oils, wood for timber, stems for basket weaving, stimulants, poison for arrows, and for infusions to be drunk as a tea.