50 NEILGHERRY PLANTS, 
of most powerful microscopes. In this way the science has assumed a new form, numer- 
ous new orders have been constructed, and nearly all the old ones vastly enlarged. It 
thus soon became apparent that Jussieu’s Apocynee could not be retained in the state 
left by him and, fortunately for science, the analysis was undertaken by our justly cele- 
brated countryman, Mr.: Brown, then and still, though now descending into the vale of 
years, having already passed the allotted age of man, threescore years and ten, the first 
of living Botanists. Forty years ago his memoir on Asclepiadee and Apocynew was 
published. In that paper he clearly defined the limits of the two orders, and shortly 
after, in his immortal Prodromous, he indicated the existence, among Jussieu’s A pocynee, 
of a third order, Loganiacew, which is now universally adopted. 
On that occasion he took up only one section of the order, that namely, most re- 
sembling Asclepiadew, as having follicular fruit, and the seed crowned with a tuft of 
down: and of the genera then referred to it, only one has since been removed, and trans- 
ferred to the transition section, Periplocee, of Asclepiadec, through the medium of 
which the two families almost interblend. A second nearly allied genus, subsequently 
established by him and similarly referred to Apocynacee, has also been removed. With 
these exceptions, all the subsequent most careful examinations have only tended to con- 
firm the minute accuracy of those primary observations, undertaken at a time when 
minute microscopic investigations were less in vogue than they have, under his guidance, 
since become. 
The order, as now known, includes about 100 genera and 600 species; of these the 
greater number are of tropical origin, a few only extending far into the temperate regions. 
Such being the case, a few only, as might be expected, are found on the higher ranges 
of the Hills. On the upper slopes they are more numerous, but it is not until we descend 
into the deeper vallies and plains that they form a distinct feature of the vegetation. 
In its botanical relations, the family seems well located in its present place in the 
system of plants. Apocynacee are very distinct in their sexual apparatus from true Ascle- 
piadee, but are occasionally scarcely distinguishable from the section Periplocee, of that 
order, either by structure or habit, so that the transition from the one to the other 
is complete ; and on the other side they pass equally imperceptibly into Loganiacec, though, 
in their more perfect forms, readily distinguishable from both. ' 
In Asclepiadee, the sexual apparatus is all combined, the male and female parts being 
intimately associated in the centre of the flower, requiring both knowledge and skill to 
distinguish and separate them. In Apocynacec, they are readily distinguishable, but, 
for the most part, the stamens converge round the capitate stigma to which the an- 
thers more or less adhere; while in Loganiacee they are quite free and distinct. In 
all the three orders the leaves are opposite, but in the two former without stipules, 
while in the latter there is usually a sheathing stipule within the petiols.. 
Among the Apocynacee there are many very handsome flowering trees and shrubs, 
qualities in which the Hill ones can scarcely be said to participate, though I believe, 
with some care in the culture, some of them might be rendered rather ornamental 
additions to the shrubbery. So far as I am aware, none of the Hill ones merit con- 
sideration for their properties. Wrightia tinctoria, from the leaves of which an Indigo 
is obtained, is common at the foot of the Hills, where also is found Alstonia scholaris, 
already mentioned, as distinguished for the intense bitterness of its wood. 
