APOCYNACEAE. 337 



5. RHABDADENIA Muell. Arg. in Mart. Fl. Bras. 6 1 : 173. 1860. 



Woody vines, rarely erect shrubs, with opposite petioled leaves, and large 

 flowers in small racemes or solitary. Calyx 5-cleft. Corolla tubular-campanu- 

 late, with a short cylindric base and a spreading 5-lobed limb, the lobes broad, 

 dextrorse. Stamens short, included, borne near the top of the corolla-tube; 

 anthers oblong, connivent around the stigma, the sacs with short obtuse ap- 

 pendages at the base. Carpels 2, distinct; style slender; stigma thick, its base 

 dilated into a reflexed membrane; ovules many in each carpel. Follicles linear, 

 parallel or little divergent, many-seeded. Seeds linear, eomose. [Greek, wand- 

 gland, probably referring to the fruit.] About 10 species, of Florida, the West 

 Indies and South America. Type species: Bhabdadenia Polilii Muell. Arg. 



Corolla white; leaves slender-petioled. 1. R. paludosa. 



Corolla yellow ; leaves very short-petioled. 2. R. Sagraei. 



1. Rhabdadenia paludosa (Vahl) Miers. Apoc. S. Am. 119. 1878. 



Echites paludosa Yahl, Eclog. 2: 19. 1798. 



A glabrous, somewhat woody vine, often 6 m. long or longer. Leaves 

 oblong or elliptic, slightly fleshy, 3-9 cm. long, obtuse or acutish and mucronate 

 at the apex, mostly narrowed at the base, faintly pinnately veined, the slender 

 petioles 8-15 mm. long; cymes long-peduneled, 1-few-flowered; pedicels slender; 

 calyx-segments narrowly oblong, 6-9 mm. long,, apiculate, one-third to one-half 

 as long as the narrowly cylindric part of the corolla-tube ; corolla white, 5-6 

 cm. long, the limb about 4 cm. wide; follicles linear, 10-16 cm. long, about 4 

 mm. thick. 



Mangrove swamps, Great Bahama, Andros, New Providence and Crooked Island : 

 Florida ; Cuba : Hispaniola ; Jamaica ; western tropical continental America. 

 Referred by Schoepf and Mrs. Northrop to Echites biflora Jacq. and by Coker and 

 by Small to Rhabdadenia biflora (Jacq.) Muell. Arg. Mangrove Swamp Vine. 



2. Rhabdadenia Sagraei (A. DC.) Muell. Arg. Linnaea 30: 435. 1860. 



Echites Sagraei A. DC. in DC. Prodr. 8: 450. 1844. 



A slender, slightly woody vine, usually less than 1 m. long, pubescent above. 

 Leaves oblong, 1-3 cm. long, subcoriaceous, faintly pinnately veined, obtuse and 

 mueronulate at the apex, obtuse, rounded or subcordate at the base, the margins 

 somewhat revolute, the petioles 1-2 mm long; cymes few-several-flowered ; 

 pedicels very slender ; calyx-segments ovate, acute, 1.5-3 mm. long, one-fourth 

 to one-third as long as the linear cylindric part of the corolla ; corolla bright 

 yellow, 2-3 cm. long, the limb about 2 em. wide; follicles linear, 7-11 cm. long, 

 1.5-2 mm. thick. 



Scrub-lands, coppices and pine-lands, Abaco and Great Bahama to Andros and 

 Mariguana and North Caicos : Cuba. Lice-root. 



Echites jamaicensis Griseb., recorded from the Bahamas by Grisebach as col- 

 lected by Swainson, is otherwise unknown to us from the archipelago. It may have 

 been mistaken for the preceding species. 



6. TJRECHITES Muell. Arg. Linnaea 30: 440. 1860. 



Somewhat woody, twining vines, with opposite petioled leaves, and large 

 mostly yellow, cymose flowers. Calyx-lobes 5, narrow; calyx-tube 5-glandular 

 within. Corolla cylindric below, expanded into a narrowly campanulate throat, 

 the limb 5-lobed, somewhat spreading. Anthers appendagcd at the base, partly 

 adherent to the stigma. Fruit of 2 long, linear follicles. Seeds narrow, 



