NEILGHERRY PLANTS. 49 
This generic name was, in the course of a few years, given to three distinct genera ; first, in 1829, to 
a genus of Chinopodeacee ; secondly, in 1833, to one of Asclepiadee, and, lastly, towards the end of 1834, 
to the plant here represented. 
When I published this plate in my Icones, I was not aware of the existence of the first of these 
genera, and the second had been already reduced by its authors. It now becomes necessary to change 
the generic name given on the plate, to that at the head of this article, and as I have altered it in the 
following note on the species. 
Bxo.epPis nERvOosA (Dcene, MSS. Brachylepis Kotergherry, and generally about that elevation, 
nervosa, W. and A.), young shoots and under sur- (6,000 feet). Flowers small, purple, surrounded wit 
face of new leaves clothed with soft pubescence: much whitish hair. Leaves very dark green and 
cymes very hairy, furnished with numerous minute shining above, below reticulated with strong, dark- 
bractiols. coloured veins, at first pubescent, afterwards glab- 
Common on the Neilgherries about Coonoor and rous. 
APOCYNACEAE. 
This is a large order, for the most part tropical in its habits, but complex in both 
its forms and properties. Here we find growing, side by side, small annuals and hand- 
some trees, erect shrubs, and delicate twiners. Among its species, on the one hand, is 
found the intensely poisonous Tanghin (Cerbera T'anghin) of Madagascar, the kernel 
of whose fruit is justly placed among the most deadly of vegetable poisons, in as much 
as it is said one of them, though not larger than an almond, is enough to poison 26 men; 
and on the other, the Cow-tree of equinoctial America, which, when wounded, pours out 
a copious stream of sweet innoxious milk. Between these extremes, almost every shade 
of variety is found. The common Oleander is highly poisonous; the milky juices of the 
Plumerias (common in India), and Allamanda cathartica are purgatives, while in large 
doses they are strongly emetic and poisonous ; others are mildly emetic. Some are aro- 
matic, resembling Canella alba; or tonic, and used as substitutes for Cinchona, The roots 
of Ichnocarpus frutescens, a common Indian plant, are used as a substitute for Sarsa- 
parilla. The wood of Alstonia scholaris, another common Indian tree, is as bitter as 
gentian. The fruit of Willughbeia edulis are, as the name implies, edible, and those 
of Carissa Carandas (the common Calacca) furnish a substitute for red currant jelly, 
and, which I state from my own experience, not a bad substitute for Damsons, when 
preserved by boiling in syrup. 
when European tart fruits were less abundant than now, I have often 
from fruit so preserved, which were then much 
d properties will suffice to show how 
In former days, 
treated my guests to Calacca tarts, 
esteemed. This brief enumeration of characters an 
variable this family is in its forms and properties. 
The order was first defined by Jussieu, but so loosely, and made to contain so many 
dissimilar forms, that it has since been broken down, and the elements of four orders de- 
rived from the genera associated by him under one name. Three of these, Asclepiadee, 
Apocynacee, and Loganiacee find a place in this work, Ata time when the known flora 
of the world, scarcely amounted to 10,000 species, and natural affinities were less under- 
stood, no great inconvenience was experienced from such extreme complexity of natural 
orders. But now that the number has been increased ten-fold, it has become necessary 
to investigate minute points of structure with untiring perseverance ee skill with the aid 
