MEDICAL BOTANY. 
COROLLIFLOR 4, 
Composed of plants having a calyx and corolla. The petals are united into one, within which the stamens are 
borne. 7 
ASCLEPIADES. 
EssentTIaL Cuar.—Flowers somewhat umbelled, fascicled, or racemose, proceeding from between the petioles. 
Calyz five—divided, persistent. Corolla monopetalous, hypogynous, five-lobed, regular, within imbricated, very seldom 
valvular in estivation, deciduous. Stamens five, inserted into the base of the corolla, alternate with the segments of the 
limb. Jilaments usually connate. Anthers two-celled, sometimes almost four-celled, in consequence of their dissepi- 
ments being nearly complete. Pollen at the period of the dehiscence of the anthers cohering in masses, either equal 
to the number of the cells, or occasionally cohering in pairs and sticking to five processes of the stigma either by two’s 
or four’s, or singly. Ovaries two. Styles two, closely approaching each other, often very short. Stigma common to 
both styles, dilated, five-cornered, with corpusculiferous ‘angles. Follicles two, one of which is sometimes abortive. 
Placenta attached to the suture, finally separating. Seeds numerous, imbricated, pendulous, almost always comose at 
the hylum. Albumen thin. Embryo straight. Cotyledons foliaceous. Radicle superior. Plumule inconspicuous. 
(Lindley. Veg. King.) 3 
The plants belonging to this class are, herbs or shrubs, milky, twining frequently, and having entire, opposite 
alternate or whorled leaves; in lieu of stipules cilie are found between the petioles. They for the most part are 
possessed of acrid irritating properties resident in some portions of them. They abound in Africa; in thé tropics they 
are common, but are rare in the Northern latitudes. 
SOLENOSTEMMA ARGEL, 
HAYNE, 
Cynancuum Arcet.—Delile. 
Cynancnum OLE#roLium.—Nectouz. 
Sex. Syst.—Pentandria, Monogynia. 
Gen. Cuar.—Corolla rotate, coronet of stamens double; the exterior cup-shaped, or annular, crenated ; the inte- 
rior five-leaved, longer than the outer, with fleshy segments. Anthers terminated by a membrane. Pollen masses 
fixed by the point, pendulous. Stigma nearly blunt. Follicles slender, smooth. Seeds comose. (R. Brown. Lindley.) 
Sprecir. Cuar.—Stem about three feet high, sending off slender, straight cylindrical branches; the Jeaves are 
opposite, lanceolate, of a pale green hue, supported on short petioles; their central nerve is prominent; the flowers are 
white, numerous, and disposed in dichotomous clusters in the axils of the leaves, at the summit of the branches; the 
calyx of each flower is short, with five divisions. Corolla deeply five-parted, rotate. Segments linear and acute; an 
ulterior crown, with five plice and five teeth, surrounds the stamens which, to the number of five, are united in the 
centre of the flower, so as to form a truncated body elévated on a pedicel formed by the filaments. The fruit consists 
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