WILD, OR NATIVE FLOWERS. yr 



Strychnia is included, with others of evil reputation. There are many 

 virtues as well as vices in our Milkweeds. The Apocynums have some 

 worthy members in the family — sweets as well as bitters. 



In the " Hya-hya " of Demarara, we find the luscious Milktree, which 

 with the Cream-fruit of Sierra Leone and some others redeem the character 

 of this remarkable tribe of vegetables. Our own native Shrubby Milkweed 

 has some marked peculiarities which deserve notice ; in common with 

 all the Milkweeds it has a strong, fine, silky fibre in the bark, which can 

 be drawn to a great degree of fineness ; and in one of the species,. 

 Apocytium ca?inabimo)i, Indian Hemp, is exceedingly tough and strong, 

 and is said to have been used by the natives in lieu of thread. No doubt 

 it can be put to such purpose. While many writers have dwelt upon the 

 silk contained in the pods of the Milkweeds, suggesting the possible uses 

 to which it might be applied, the more valuable strong flaxen-fibre, which 

 is superior in quality to hemp, seems in a large measure to have escaped 

 public attention. The free growth of the common white-flowered 

 Milkweed, which could be easily cultivated, growing readily, and 

 attaining the height of three or four feet, would give a long thread 

 easily divided into the finest strands, and might form a valuable addition 

 in the manufacture of native Canadian fabrics. But I have already 

 referred to this subject in another portion of my little work, so I will 

 return again to my text. 



The ancient name Apocyniim, is derived from two Greek words, 

 signifying, — from a dog ; to which this shrub was supposed to be injurious 

 or baneful, whence its common name Dog-bane. Whether the plant 

 deserves this reproach as regards dogs, I cannot say ; but truth 

 obliges me to confess that in its pretty treacherous bells many a poor 

 incautious fly meets with a certain though possibly lingering death. 

 Lured by the fragrance of its blossoms, which it gives out at dew-fall, 

 hundreds of small black flies seek rest and shelter in the flowers, and are 

 seized instantly by the irritable stamens and held in durance by their legs. 

 And as there is no philanthropist to take his nightly rounds and release 

 them, chey perish in their flowery prison. 



Though the Dog-bane is perennial, the stems die down annually 

 and are renewed again each Spring. The bark is of a deep red ; the 

 foliage on distinct foot-stalks, ovate and pointed. The flowers in loose 

 spreading cymes; the pale rose somewhat striped corolla, open bell- 

 shaped, with recurved lobes. The flowers are followed by long slender 

 red pods, meeting in pairs at the points, in twos or fours, the pods 

 converging together ; these pods open longitudinally and let out the 

 small winged seeds, each of which is furnished with a tuft of delicate silk. 

 The whole plant is milky — more so than the next less showy-flowered species 



