N. ORD. ASCLEPIADACE. 135 
Tribe.—ASCLEPIADEA. 
GENUS.—ASCLEPIA S$, LINN. 
SEX. SYST.—_PENTANDRIA DIGYNIA. 
ASCLEPIAS TUBEROSA. 
PLEURISY-ROOT. 
SYN.—ASCLEPIAS TUBEROSA, LINN. ; ASCLEPIAS CAULE ERECT. DIVAR. 
VILLOS., ETC., HORT. CLIFF.; APOCYNUM NOV.Ai ANG. HIRSUT. 
ETC., HERM. LUGDB. 
COM. NAMES.—PLEURISY-ROOT, BUTTERFLY WEED, ORANGE SWAL- 
LOW-WORT, ORANGE MILK-WEED, ORANGE APOCYNUM, WIND 
ROOT, WIND WHED, COLIC ROOT, WHITE ROOT; (FR.) ASCLEPIADE 
TUBEREUSE; (GER.) KNOLLIGE SCHWALBENWURZ. 
A TINCTURE OF THE FRESH ROOT OF ASCLEPIAS TUBEROSA, LINN. 
Description.—This attractive plant grows to a height of from 1 to 2 feet. 
Root large, sarcous, fusiform and branching. Szemzs numerous, erect or oblique, 
roughish hairy, branching superiorly, and leafy to the top ; they form an exception 
to Asclepiadez in general by being almost or entirely devoid of milky juice. 
Leaves numerous, scattered, some falling opposite; they may vary from linear to 
linear- or oblong-lanceolate, be sessile or very short petioled, hirsute, mostly 
acute or subacute, and undulately wrinkled along the margin. /nflorescence 
terminal cymose or corymbose clusters of short peduncled umbels ; flowers showy, 
greenish- or orange-chrome. Ca/yx much smaller than the corolla; sefa/s re- 
flexed, subulate, hidden under the lobes of the corolla. é¢a/s or divisions of the 
corolla oblong, at first extended then reflexed. Crown elevated conspicuously 
above the base of the corolla; hoods or cuculli erect, narrowly oblong, sessile, 
somewhat broadened at the base, and about twice the length of the column; oris 
subulate, slender, nearly erect. Column short. Axthers shorter than the cuculli; 
wengs truncate, broadest at the base. Pods lanceolate, acuminate, hoary. 
Asclepiadacez.—This large family differs mainly from the preceding, and 
all Exogens, in the arrangement of the essential organs and fecundating element. 
It consists of shrubs and herbs having acrid, bitter, milky (exc. Asclepias tuberosa) — 
juice, containing caoutchouc. It answers in general to the characters of leaf, flower, 
and fruit exhibited in the Apocynaceee (vide ante, p. 133-2). has 
Leaves destitute of stipules; their place generally supplied by hairs. / wht 
florescence terminal, axillary or somewhat racemose clusters of cymose or umbelli- 
* In executing this plate with the stem and leaves natural size, it became necessary to remove two flower clusters, 
which greatly diminishes its value to the botanist, though the representation is still characteristic of 4. ¢uderosa. 
