PENTANDRIA. DIGYNIA, X6l 



II. DIGYNIA. 



f Flowers monopetaloiLS, inferior, 



237. ECHITES. Jacquin, Linn, 



Contorted. — Calix 5-parted, small. Corolla 

 salverform, border Scleft, orifice naked. ./3?i- 

 thers rigid, acuminate, converi^ent into a cone, 

 " cohering to the sligma by the middle." R. 

 Brown. Style 1; stigma annulate, capitulunx 

 2-Iobed. Follicles 2, very long and straight.- 

 Seed comose. 



Shrubs, mostly twining", some species exuding a lac- 

 tescent sap; leaves opposite; peduncles axillary or termi- 

 nal, one or many-flowered; flowers umbellate, corymbose 

 or spiked; corolla as in JMeriuin, Vinca, ^imsonia, PeHploca, 

 he. coiitorted, or spirally involute before expansion. 



Species. 1. E. diffonnis. Flowers small and greenish- 

 yellow. Calix angular at the base. Corolla lined with 

 a silky villus around the orifice. Anthers simple, seated 

 around the mouth ofthe tube, linear-sagittate, very acute 

 and rigid. Style 1, as long as the stamens; stigma annu- 

 late, 2-lobed, viscid, (ierin surrounded at the base by 

 a glanchilar 5-toothed torus. 



'Ihis genus of 29 species, according to Persoon, is pe- 

 culiar to the trojiical parts of America, with the exception 

 of 2 species in India, and 2 of a doubtful genus at the 

 Cape of Good Hope, being succulent and furnished willi 

 axillary thorns. 



238. APOCYNUM. L, (Indian-Hemp.) 

 Calix very small, 5-cIet*t, persistent. Corolla 



campanulate, half 5-cleft, lobes revolute, fur- 

 nished at the base with o dentoid glands alter- 

 nating with the stamina. Jluthcrs connivent, 

 sagittate ** cohering to the stigma by the mid- 

 dle." R. Brown. ^%^e obsolete; stigma thick and 

 acute. Follicles long and linear. Seed comose. 



Erect and herbaceous plants, or shrubby and twining, 

 with opposite leaves; flowers cojjymbose or paniculate, 

 axillary or terminal. Corolla with 5 nectariferous depres- 

 sions near its base. 



V 2, 



