270 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOTANY OF [ Apocynee. 
India and Africa, as are Ichnocarpus and Carissa found at the Cape of Good Hope, 
and Strychnos in the Island of Madagascar. ‘ 
The genera and species which extend furthest north in the belt of forest are 
Echites macrophylla, Holarrhena pubescens, Ichnocarpus fragrans, Cryptolepis reticulata, 
Wrightia mollissima, Tabernemontana coronaria, and Alstonia scholaris, the last occur- 
ring as far north as Mirzapore, in the state of a handsome tree, and probably still 
further, as there is a specimen from Dr. Govan marked A. cuneata in the E. I. Her- 
barium, which does not appear to be more than a variety. Those found also in the 
open plains are Carissa Carandas, Ichnocarpus frutescens, Vallaris dichotoma, and Vinca 
parviflora. \ have not observed any of the family at any great elevation in the mountains, 
but Gardnera referred here has one species G. angustifolia in Nepal, G. ovata in Silhet, 
and G. Wallichii, in the Indian Peninsula.* Many of those from the South succeed well 
in Northern India, as Wrightia coccinea and tinctoria, the first ornamental for its: flowers 
and useful for its timber; the other, indigenous over a tract of 1,000 miles, is 
valuable for the indigo of the best quality which is yielded by its leaves, and is recom- 
mended by Dr. Roxburgh for cultivation, because less dependent on rain and irrigation, 
and being a perennial which grows freely and throws out shoots rapidly as they are cut 
away. With these many S. American trees have become perfectly naturalized, as 
Cerbera Thevetia, Allamanda cathartica, and Plumieria acuminata ; the last I have seen in 
a luxuriant state in the garden in the Pinjore Valley. 
The Apocynee abound in a milky juice, with which some acrid principle is frequently 
combined, rendering the whole suspicious and many highly dangerous; but owing to 
the absence of this acrid principle, the milk of some is of an innocuous nature, as 
exemplified in the Milk-tree, or Hya-hya, of Demarara, referred to this order and 
called Tabernemontana utilis by Mr. Arnott. (Lindley, Nat. orders, p- 214.) 
This milky juice is frequently of a tenacious nature and abounds in Caoutchouc. 
Thus, in Sumatra, Urceola elastica yields that substance as a Vahea does in Madagascar, 
and birdlime is prepared from the Voacanga; as in India from species of Ficus, some of 
which, especially F. elastica, yield Caoutchouc. It is, probably, owing to the presence 
of this principle, that some of the species are, in this and the kindred family of 
Asclepiadee idnebted for the tenacity of their fibre, as Nerium piscidium, Marsdenia 
(Asclepias, Roxb.); tenacissima, &c. Willoughbeia edulis also yields Caoutchouc, but of 
indifferent quality (Roxb.) Several yield good timber, as Wrightia coccinea, which for 
its lightness and strength is used in making palanquins in the South, while in the 
North of India that of W. mollissima is used by turners ; Holarrhena pubescens (koora), 
yields light wood, and species of Strychnos some of superior quality. The bark of 
some is astringent and febrifugal as that of Wrightia antidysenterica, called Conessi, 
and 
* This genus was referred by Dr. Wallich to Loganiee (Fl. Ind. ed. Wall. 1. p. 400), but subsequently 
considered as a distinct order (v. Catalogue). It has been referred by Dr. Lindley to Apocyne@, and forms the 
section Gardnerege of that order, in the “ Conspectus Regni Vegetabilis” of Von Martius, 
