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** five or six feet Iiigh, covered with a brown bark, and 

 " divides upwards into many small branches, which are 

 " ^rnished with spearshaped leaves, about four inches long 

 " and a little more than one bi'oad ; these are smooth, of a 

 " liglit green, and have many horizontal veins, running 

 " from the midrib to the sides, and are placed opposite by 

 pairs. From the wings of the leaves, towards the upper 

 part of the branches, are produced the flowers, standing 

 " upon branching footstalks, each sustaining four or five 

 " flowere, whose tubes are swelling at the base, just above 

 the cup, but contract upwards to the mouth, where the 

 petal is cut into five broad segments which spread flat; 

 they are white." 

 This species differs in regard to one of the features enu- 

 merated in the present generic character, by having stamens 

 which stand above the mouth of the tube of the corolla. 

 It may not be useless to subjoin a version of the character 

 by which Mr. Brown has circumscribed the natural order 

 he has detached, under the title of Apocine^, from that of 

 his Asclep!.\ue.e; which orders previously formed the Apo- 

 ciNEiE of Jnssieu. 



Calyx five-cleft, pei^istent. Corolla monopetalous, in- 

 ferior, regular, 3-lobed, (before expansion) imbricate, deci- 

 duous. Stamens placed upon the corolla, alternate >vith 

 the segments of the limb. Filaments distinct. Anthers bi- 

 locular, bursting longitudinally. Pollen granular, applied 

 immediately to the stigma (not by the intervention of a par- 

 ticular process, as in the Asclepiade^). Germens 2, or 1 

 and hilocular, in most manyseeded. Styles 2 or 1. Stigma 

 \. Fruit follicular, capsular, drupaceous, or berried, double 

 or single. Seeds generally furnished with an albumen. Em- 

 bryo foliaceous. Plumule inconspicuous. Trees or shrubs, 

 often milky. Leaves opposite, sometimes verticillate 

 (whorled), seldom scattered, quite entire, generally fur- 

 nished with either ciliw or glands between the petioles, /w- 

 florescence subcorymhose. 



We learn from the same accurate observer of natural 

 affinities, that this subdivision forms a truly natural group, 

 with perhaps the exception of one or two genera ; but 

 which if even these were excluded is hardly to he technically 

 defined: though easily distingui^^hed by the economy of the 

 anthers and the stigma from the Asclkpiadr^, which are 

 besides more uniform in the structure of the flower and 

 fruit. The order is also allied to the Gkntiane^ and Ru« 



1IIACK£. 



