ASCLF.riADACKiE, (mILKWKKT) FAMILY.) 3C1 



obovoiil, 1 - 2-sccdcd. Sccils naked, club-sliapcd, furrowed. Riidiolo thick, 

 inferior. — Shrubs. Leaves alternate. Cymes long-peduncled, opposite the 

 leaves. 



1 V. chiococcoides, Kunth. Smooth ; leaves lanceolate-oblong, acute 

 at each euil, >lu)ri-pi tioled ; cymes forking, spreading, as long as the leaves, 

 many -flowered ; lobes of the corolla linear, shorter than the tube, hairy within ; 

 style slender ; stigma 2-lobcd, globose below the apex. — South i'lorida. — 

 Leaves U'- 2' long. Corolla 3" long. Drupe 4" long, 1-seeded. 



()uDi:u 103. ASCI.EPIADACE^. (Milkweed Family.) 



P^reot or twining herbs or shrubs, with milky juice, entire commonly 

 opposite leaves without stipules, and umbellate or cymosc flowers. — Ca- 

 lyx 5-parted, persistent. Corolla 5-parted, mostly valvate in the bud, 

 hypojiynous, deciduous. Stamens 5, inserted on the base of the corolla, 

 the filaments united in a tube (gijnostef/him) which encloses the ovaries, 

 and bears appendages of various forms, which are collectively termed the 

 slamineal crown. Anthers erect, 2 - 4-celled, e.xpanding above into a thin 

 membrane. Pollen united in flattened waxy pear-shaped masses, which 

 arc equal in number to the cells of the anthers, and fixed to the five an- 

 gular processes of the stigma by a slender stalk, pendulous or horizontal. 

 Styles 2, the thick and fleshy stigma common to both. Fruit a follicle. 

 Seeds anatropous, imbricated on the thick and at length free placenta, 

 and commonly bearing at the hilum a tuft of hairs (coma). Embryo 

 straight in thin albumen. Cotyledons leafy. 



Synopsis. 



TRffiE I. ASCLEPIADE^. —Pollen-masses 10, fixed by pairs to thecleft processes of 

 the flat or conical stigma, pendulous. 

 » Stamineal crown single, 5-leaved. 



*- Lobes of the corolla reflexed or spreading. 



1. ASOLEPIAS. Leaves of the crown enclosing a horn-like appendage. 



2. ACEKAt'ES. Leaves of the crown without appendages. 



t- -t- Lobes of the corolla erect. 

 .S. PODO'TIOMA. Stigma long-pedicel led. Corolla smooth, wavy. Stem erect. 

 4. MEl'ASTELJlA. Stigma sessile or pedicelled. Corolla downy within. Stems twining. 



« » Stamineal crown single, 5-lobed. 

 5 SEUTERA Stigma conical. Crown deeply 5-parted. 

 6. CYNOCrON'UM. Stigma flat. Crown crenately 5 lobed. 



» * * Stamineal crown double. 

 7- 8ARCOSTE>I5IA. Outer crown annular ; the inner one 5-leaTed. 



Tribe IT. GOKOLOBEjE. — Pollen-masses 10, fixed by pairs at the angles of the 

 depressed stigma, horizontal. 

 8. OONOLOBUS. Crown simple, annular. Stems twining. Leaves cordate. 



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