OF THE CLASS PENTA^DRIA. 75 



CHAPTER XVI. 



OF THE OTHER ORDERS OF THE CLASS PENTANDR1A. 



We shall commence the second order of the fifth 

 class by presenting you with the natural family of the 

 ApociNEiE, so called from Apocynum, its type, known 

 by the various names of Dog's-bane, Catch-fly, and 

 Indian Hemp. Two species are with us common, 

 upright, and somewhat branching, milky juiced plants, 

 found in sandy fields, and amidst bushy open woods ; 

 their stems are extremely tough, and afford a durable 

 flax or hemp, but in a quantity perhaps too small to 

 deserve cultivation. The anthers of the flower, which 

 are arrow-shaped, connive together into a cone, and 

 firmly cohere to the columnar stigma about their mid- 

 dle ; within, and below these anthers is situated the 

 secreting nectariferous cavity. Flies attempting to rifle 

 this reservoir, by inserting the proboscis between the 

 interstices of the anthers, become cruelly imprisoned, 

 and held till dead, by that organ of their nutrition, which, 

 once exserted, and shifted a little upwards, can then 

 be no longer retracted ; and the poor insect, like Tan- 

 talus, with plenty in view, but out of reach, perishes 

 of want. That you may find this plant and its con- 

 geners, attend to the following characters. They 

 have a very small 5-cleft calyx ; a campanulate (white 

 or rose-colored, veined) corolla, the border with 5 

 short, spreading or revolute lobes ; the anthers are 

 already described. There are also 5 glandular acute 

 teeth, alternating with the stamens, and opposite to the 

 segments of the corolla. The species are very simi- 

 lar, so that it is somewhat difficult to distinguish them 

 from each other ; but with these specific characters we 

 have not here room to interfere, and refer you rather 



