8 PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.- Nerium, 
which the natives of the country where the plant grows, 
use as a substitute for hemp. In steeping some of the 
young shoots in a fish pond in order to accelerate the 
removal of the bark, and cleaning the fibres, many, if 
not the whole of the fish were killed, hence the specific 
name. . ; . 
* Stem and larger branches ligneous, and ramble to a vast 
extent. Young shoots long, round and smooth. Leaves 
opposite, short-petioled, oblong, taper-obtuse jointed, 
entire, firm and lucid; about six inches long, by two 
broad. Panicles terminal, sub-globular ; composed of a 
few pairs of brachiate, short, few-flowered branches ; all 
are round andsmooth. Flowers many, large, pale yellow 
Salver-shaped. Bractes oblong, rather obtuse, and small. 
Calyx five-leaved. Leaflets ovate smooth. Tube of the 
corol larger than the five obliquely trapiziform segments 
of its border, gibbous in the middle where the stamina are 
lodged. Nectarium consists of five bifid, villous seg- 
ments, rising from the five fissures of the border of the co- 
rol, round the mouth of its tube. Germ two-lobed, two- 
celled, with numerous ovula in each, attached to an eleva< 
tion down the centre of the partition. Style scarce half the 
length of the tube. Stigma large, with contracted bifid 
apex. Follicles ovate-oblong, while fresh very large, by 
being much inflated or puffed, smooth, obtuse, greenish 
yellow when ripe. Seed many, thin, oval, with broad 
membranaceous margin, crowned. Integuments two, ex- 
terior, soft, smooth, light brown; interior, rather fleshy 
while the seeds are recent. Perisperm no other than the 
interior integument of the seed. Embryo inverse, coty- 
dedons round-cordate, strongly marked with veins. Radi- 
cle cylindric, superior. 
 6.N. reticulatum, R. : 
Shrubby, twining. Leaves oblong, smooth. Cymes ax 
illary. Nectarial scales five, wedge-shaped. | eis | 
a2 Se 
a * 
