MII.KWEKU FAMILY. 



88. ASCLEPIADACE^E, MILKWEED FAMILY. 



Plants with milky juice, leaves, pistils, fruits, and seeds nearly as 

 in the preceding family ; hut the anthers more connected with the 

 stigma, their pollen collected into linn waxy or granular maes 

 (mostly 10), the short filaments (monadelphous except in the last 

 genus) commonly hear curious appendages hehind the anthers form- 

 ing what is called a crown, and the corolla more commonly valvate 

 in the hud. The flowers are rather too difficult for the beginner 

 readily to understand throughout. For a particular study of them 

 the Manual nm.-t be used. 



1. Erect herli*. wi/h ordinary foliage, end deeply 5-parted, reflexed calyx and 

 < < '/-i .//<(. FIxiKei-f. iii niin/,i\- umbels. Fruit <t pair of pods (follicles,) containing 

 numerous tft seeds fiiniinlitd with a coma (Lessons, p. 12ti, tig. 417) or hnii/ 

 tuft of sift dotcn at one etui. 



1. ASCLEPIAS. Stamens with tlieir short fil:imcnts monadelphovis in a ring; or 



tube, bearing behind earh anther a curious erect and hood-like or ear-like 

 appendage, with a liorn projecting out of the inside of it: the 5 broad anthers 

 closely surrounding and partly adhering to the very thick stigma, a mem- 

 branous appendage at their tip inflected over it. Each of the 2 cells of the 

 anther has a (inn waxy pour-shaped pollen-mass in it: and the two adja- 

 cent masses from two contiguous anthers are suspended by a stalk from a 

 dark gland; these 5 glands, borne on the margin of the flat top of the stigma, 

 stick to the legs, &c. of in.-ccts, and are carried oil", each gland taking with it 

 2 pollen masses, the whole somewhat resembling a pair of saddle-bags. 



2. ACERATES. Like Asclepia>, but no horn in the hoods or ear-like appendages, 



and the flowers always greeni.-h. 



2. Twining plants uith ordinary foliage ; pods and seeds nearly as in Ascle/>ias. 

 * Anthers with tJieir hanging pollen-masses nearly as Asclepias pods smooth mid even. 



3. EN'SI.KXIA. Calyx and corolla 5-parted, the divisions lance-ovate and nearly 



erect. The 5 appendages of the filaments are in the form of membranaceous 

 leaflets, each bearing a pair of awns on their truncate tip. Herb. 



4. VTNCETOXICUM. Corolla 5-parted, wheel-shaped. A flat and fie-hy 



5 - 10-lobed disk or crown in place of the hoods of Asclepias. Herbs. 



* * 7V(e 10 pollen-masses horizontal, fixed in pairs to 5 ylands of the. stigma. 



5. GOXOLORUS. Corolla wheel-shaped: a fle.-hy and wary-lobed ring or crown 



in its throat. 



* * The 10 xlinr/ /lol/en-niasses ji.red by their bcme in pairs to lite 5 glands of the 

 ml i /< i I. Shrubby plaitiS, of ti-npieiil 



6. IIOYA. Corolla wheel-shaped, 5-lobed, thick and wax-like in appearance. 



Crown of 6 thick and depressed fleshy appendages radiating from the central 

 column. 



7. STKI'IIANOTIS. Corolla salver-shaped, the tube including the stamens, 



crown, \-c., in its Miinrwhat >wollen base, the 5 ovate lobes convolute in the 

 bud. Crown of ^ thin erect appendages. Stigma conical. 



. * v * Anthers distinct, the. 5 patten-mattes each composed of 4 small granulat 



iiiiit.ot imiti '/, unit up/Jit / t/ii-ft-t/y to the ijlands of the stiyma without any stalk. 

 Shrubby lirini / s. 



8. PKK'II'I.OCA. Corolla JS-parted, wlifcl-^haped, the divisions hairv on the 



upper face: idtcrnatc with tln-ni are " >mall thick s.-alc-, each liearing :i 

 brittle-- hapeil appendage, l-'ilainents di-tinct, bearing anthers of more ordi- 

 jiary a|']iearance than in the re>t of this family. Stigma hemispherical. 

 I'oiis .smooth. 



3. Fleshy loiv plants, Cactus-like, with <wl>/ smnll fleshy scales or teetfi in place of 

 !i ,ires, on the anyles of the thick* IK <! s!i ms or branches. 



9. STAFKLIA. Flowers large, lurid, solitary lateral. Calyx 5-parted. Corolla 

 5-cleft, wheel-shaped: within is a crown formed of two rings of short appen- 

 dages or lobes. Masses of waxy pollen 10, erect. 



