ASCLEPIAS TUBEROSA. 



Tuberous Swallow- wort. 



Pentandria. Digynia. 



Class 5. Order 2. 



AscLEPiAS : from Msculapius, on account of the medicinal properties 

 some of the species in this genus possess. 



Linn. gen. n, 306. Linn. spec. 316. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Cal. Perianth five-cleft, sharp, very small, permanent. Cor. mono- 

 petalous, flat or reflex, five-parted ; divisions ovate, acuminate. 

 Nectaries five, growing to the base of the filaments below the an- 

 thers, fleshy ; protruding from the bottom a sharp horn bending 

 inwards. Sfani. Filaments five, collected into a tube swelling at 

 the base. Anthers oblong, upright, two-celled, terminated by an 

 inflex membrane lying on the stigma, having a reversed wing on 

 each side, growing broader downwards, with its edge contiguous to 

 the next. The pollen is collected into ten corpuscles, inversely 

 lanceolate, hanging down into the cells of the anther by short 

 threads frequently flexuose, which are annexed by pairs to five car- 

 tilaginous twin tubercles, each placed on the tip of the wings of 

 the anthers, adhering to the angles of the stigma between the an- 

 thers. Pist. Germs two, oblong, acuminate. Styles two, subulate. 

 Stigma common to both, large, thick, five-cornered, covered at the 

 top by the apexes of the anthers, umbilicate in the middle. Per. 

 Follicles two, large, oblong, acuminate, swelling, one-celled, one- 

 valved. Seeds numerous, imbricate, crowned with down. Receptacle 

 membranaceous, free. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 



Leaves lanceolate. Stem divaricate, hairy. 



