DOGBANE FAMILY 



101 



Native of Europe, escaped from gardens into protected areas along water- 

 courses, 5 to 800 feet : Mendocino coast; caiions about San Francisco Bay; San Luis 

 Obispo Co.; coastal Southern California. June-Sept. 



Logs. — Westport, w. Mendocino Co., Jepson; Berkeley; Oakland Hills near Mills College; 

 San Luis Obispo, L. C. Watson. 



Refs. — ViNCA MAJOR L., Sp. PI. 209 (1753), type European; Jepson, Man. 768 (1925). 



3. APOCYNUML. 



Flowers small, in terminal cymes. Calyx small, deeply 5-cleft, its tube by means 

 of a disk adnate to the back of the ovaries below. Corolla campanulate, 5-lobed, 

 bearing 5 small triangular-subulate appendages alternate with the stamens. Sta- 

 mens borne at base of corolla; filaments short and broad; anthers sagittate, acute. 

 Style very short or hardly any; stigma ovoid, obscurely 2-lobed. Follicles slender, 

 pointed, terete. Seeds numerous, flattish. — Species 5 to 18, North America, Eu- 

 rope, Asia. (Greek apo, from, and kuon, dog, ancient name of the Dogbane.) 



Low herb ; leaves greenish above ; corolla rose-purple to white, its lobes spreading. 



Leaf -blades ovate or oblong-ovate, mostly 2 to 2% inches long; corolla campanulate; follicles 



pendulous -- - -- 1. A. androsaemifolium. 



Leaf -blades orbicular to oblong-ovate or ovate, mostly % to 1% inches long; corolla short, 



but nearly cylindric; follicles erect 2. A. pumilum. 



Tall herb; leaves yellowish; corolla greenish-white, its lobes erect 3. A. cannabinum. 



1. A. androsaemifolium L. Bitter Dogbane. Stem diffusely branched, 8 to 

 15 inches high; herbage glabrous to finely pubescent; leaf -blades ovate to oblong- 

 ovate, nearly always very acute, usually mucronate, dark gi-eeu above, pale be- 

 neath, (% or) 2 to 2% inches long, on short petioles; flowers in short cjonose 

 clusters at the ends of the branches, or a few solitary in the upper axils; calyx-lobes 

 much shorter than the corolla- tube; corolla 



campanulate, red-purple or pink to nearly 

 white, 2 to 4 lines long, its lobes broadly ob- 

 long; follicles pendulous, 3^/2 to 5V2 inches 

 long. 



Mountain slopes, 5000 to 8400 feet : San 

 Jacinto and San Bernardino mountains. East 

 to Georgia and Nova Scotia, north to Canada. 

 July-Aug. 



Locs. — San Jacinto Mts. : Tamarack Valley, Hall 

 2595. San Bernardino Mts.: near Mt. San Gorgonio, 

 Blasdale; Mt. San Bernardino, E. J. Smith; Glen Mar- 

 tin, .E. /. Smith; Sugar Loaf, Peirson 9034; Water- 

 man Caiion (head of). Ball 1290. No California 

 specimens before us are in fruit, but plants beyond 

 our borders bear pendulous pods. 



Eefs. — Apoctnum androsaemifolium L., Sp. 

 PI. ed. 2, 311 (1762), "Virginia, Canada"; Curtis, 

 Bot. Mag. t. 280 (1794). 



2. A. pumilum Greene. Mountain 

 Hemp. (Fig. 348.) Plants smaller than in 

 A. androsaemifolium, 5 to 8 (or 14) inches 

 high; herbage glabrous to puberulent; leaf- 

 blades ovate to elliptic or orbicular, fre- 

 quently obtuse at apex, varying from obtuse 

 to cordate at ba.se, iLsually rounder than in 

 no. 1, % to 11/2 (or 2%) inches long, short- 



petioled to subsessile; corolla pinkish or whitish, short and often broad but nearly 

 cylindric, 2 to 31/2 lines long; follicles erect, 2% to 4% inches long. 



Fig. 348. Apocynum pumilum 

 Greene, a, fl. branchlet, X V2 ; b, fl., 

 X 1% ; c, long. sect, of fl., X 4%. 



